Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №15/2008

Richard Branson

Richard Branson, is one of the most successful business tycoons in the world. He owns over 150 companies and is worth over $3 billion. He is also a daredevil who loves all kinds of adventures.

Richard Branson was born in 1950 in the county of Surrey in England. He is the oldest of three children. Richard had a happy childhood. He was very close to his mother and she always encouraged him to do his best. But that was sometimes hard for Richard. He had very bad eyesight and also had a reading problem. This made school very difficult for him. He also hated school rules and regulations.

At age 17, Richard decided to start his own student newspaper. But it wasn’t just an average school newspaper. It was for students everywhere and it had articles written by rock stars, celebrities, politicians, and businesspeople. With his friend’s help and a small loan from his mother, he published the first issue in January 1968. The magazine was a big success. Two years later, Branson got the idea to offer his student readers inexpensive records by mail. He had so many orders that he decided to start another business. His mail order record company was called Virgin Mail. He decided to use the name Virgin because he had no experience in business.

In 1973, Branson wanted to help a friend record some music, so he started Virgin Records. It became the largest independent record company in England. Virgin Records recorded bands and singers such as the Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, and Janet Jackson. Branson couldn’t stop there. By 1983, he owned 50 different companies. In 1984, he took a big risk. He started an international airline with one borrowed plane. The airline, Virgin Atlantic Airways, eventually grew into the world’s third largest transatlantic airline.

In 1992, Branson sold his Virgin Music Group for almost $1 billion. By 1999, the Virgin empire was huge. Branson owned 150 companies with 24,000 employees. By then he had two airlines, a travel business, radio stations, hotels, recording studios, entertainment companies, restaurants, movie theaters, stores, and a publishing company, all with the Virgin name. He even bought an island in the Caribbean and spent $20 million on trees and plants, a beautiful ten-bedroom house, and two guest houses. Then he rented the island to some of the most famous people in the world, such as the late Princess Diana, director Steven Spielberg, actor Mel Gibson, and television producer and celebrity Oprah Winfrey. They paid $20,000 a night to stay there! The Virgin empire was worth about $3 billion and was the largest privately owned business in England.

People are amazed by Richard Branson. He has no formal training or schooling in business and does not know how to use a computer. He goes against all the established rules. Branson runs his business empire from his home in London. There is no central office or board of directors who make important decisions. All of his companies are different from each other and all are privately owned and operated, which is unusual. The one thing that all the companies have in common is that they all put their employees first and give them a pleasant place to work. Even when business is slow, Branson does not lay off employees. “It all comes down to people,” says Branson. “There’s nothing else that comes close… Everyone you hire is so important.” He writes a letter once a month to all his employees to let them know what is happening in his companies. He also invites them to call or write to him with their problems and ideas.

A good example of how Branson works is the way he runs Virgin Airways. Most airlines today make money by cutting their costs and offering less service to their customers. But not Branson. Virgin Airways’ first class section has video games and movies. There is ice cream and entertainment for children. There are full-size sleeper seats, a place to practice golf, and lounges with spa baths. There are also luxury services such as massages, manicures, and limousine service to and from the airport. Eventually, Branson plans to have private bedrooms in his planes.

Richard Branson is not afraid to do wild and bizarre things, especially if it means publicity for one of his new businesses. One day, a Virgin Airways flight attendant told Branson about her idea to start a “wedding business.” Branson encouraged her to do it and said he would help her. She soon became the head of Virgin Bride, a company that plans weddings and honeymoons. To publicize the new company, Branson wore a bridal gown. It was only one of the many outrageous things he does. He even arrived at his own wedding hanging from a helicopter.

Branson’s adventurous nature has always led him to take risks in business. But that has never been enough excitement for him. He is as famous for his death-defying adventures as he is for his business achievements. He broke a record and became the fastest person to cross the Atlantic Ocean by boat. In 1987, he took a skydiving lesson and nearly killed himself when he accidentally unhooked his parachute. Fortunately an instructor rescued him in midair. Shortly after that, Branson traveled from the United States to Ireland in the largest hot-air balloon ever made. It was the first transatlantic crossing in a balloon. When Branson and his copilot reached Ireland, the winds were so bad that they almost died in the icy Atlantic waters.

In 1991, Branson became the first person to cross the Pacific Ocean by balloon. The trip from Japan to Canada was nearly 7,000 miles and the balloon went as fast as 240 miles an hour. There were many frightening moments, such as when the balloon lost two fuel tanks. They also went up too high at one point, which is very dangerous. They were supposed to land in Los Angeles, but they landed in the Canadian Rocky Mountains instead – nearly 2,000 miles away. Branson wanted to be the first person to fly around the world in a hot-air balloon. He tried four times between January 1997 and December 1998. On his last try it looked like he might make it, but a hurricane forced the balloon to land in the ocean off Hawaii.

Branson’s dream of being the first person to travel around the world by balloon didn’t come true for him; somebody else did it. It’s hard to imagine what Branson will think of next, both as a businessman and a daredevil. When someone recently asked him about the future of his travel empire, he replied, “Virgin Space.” Who knows? If anyone will fly people around space, it will certainly be Richard Branson.

Submitted by Victoria Zheludkova ,
Non-state Educational Institution “Shkola Sotrudnichestva”, Moscow