Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which h ...

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** ...

founded by

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

and

Nik Powell Nik Powell (4 November 1950 – 7 November 2019) was a British businessman and one of the co-founders of Virgin Records with Richard Branson. After operating a mail-order company, a small record shop, and a recording studio, the partners estab ...

in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

; however Virgin's business and trading activities date back to the 1970s. The net worth of Virgin Group was estimated at £5–5.5 billion as of November 2014.

History

The name "Virgin" arose in 1970 when

and

formed a

record shop A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were ...

, first as mail order and in 1971 with a physical store. They considered themselves

virgins Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

in business. Branson has described the "V" in the logo as an expressive

tick Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living ...

, representing the Virgin seal of approval. The original logo from 1973 was a completely different design intended to be used for the record company that was founded by

and

. The logo was designed by British science-fiction artist and designer Roger Dean. According to Richard Branson in interviews and on the Virgin website, the more recent signature logo, introduced in 1978, was based on one that a designer scribbled on a napkin after a design meeting.

Corporate affairs

Virgin Group has its headquarters at The Battleship Building in the

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

district of the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a city and borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of central Greater London, including most of the West En ...

. Previously it was in The School House, Brook Green, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The Virgin Group of companies have a complex structure that contains elements of a generic

and a

keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that are loosely organized alliances within the social world of Japan's business community. The '' ...

, and sometimes it simply licences its brand. Examples of licensing are

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...

and

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...

, which are owned by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

and

Liberty Global Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...

respectively. In mid-May 2013, the Virgin Group expressed its intention to seek out opportunities in Australia's

healthcare industry The healthcare industry (also called the medical industry or health economy) is an aggregation and integration of sectors within the economic system that provides goods and services to treat patients with curative, preventive, rehabilitative, ...

to consolidate on the Group's Australian fitness centres. The Group also runs over 100

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

(NHS) services in the United Kingdom and the healthcare division of medical services group Assura after entering the British healthcare industry in 2011. Virgin Group announced the establishment of Virgin Voyages on 4 December 2014 with financial backing from

Bain Capital Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...

. The cruise line would be led by CEO

Tom McAlpin Thomas Michael McAlpin (born 1959 in Miami, Florida) is the president and CEO of Virgin Voyages. He previously served as president and CEO of ''The World'', a privately owned residential ship. McAlpin also served as president of Disney Cruises, w ...

, would have two new large ships built and be based in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area.

Virgin StartUp

Virgin StartUp is the Virgin Group's non-profit company, helping entrepreneurs across the UK to start, fund and scale their business. In 2013, Sir Richard visited Boxpark in Shoreditch, London, to launch the new organisation, revealing that he wanted to support anyone that had the same dreams and ambitions that he did as a young boy: “It was £300 from my mum that sparked the Virgin adventure 40 years ago. Today, young people need that same help and I believe Virgin StartUp will provide it – with access to early capital, strong mentorship, advice and promotion.” The organisation became a delivery partner for the UK Government's Start Up Loans Company, providing loan finance of between £500 and £25,000, advice, and mentoring to thousands of start-ups across the country. In 2016, it was awarded European Regional Development Funding and subsequently launched Ready, Steady, Grow with Virgin StartUp, a programme of support aimed at start-ups that were ready to grow. A year later, it launched the UK's first equity-based crowdfunding accelerator programme, Crowdboost. By 2018, the organisation had supported over 11,000 UK-based entrepreneurs, with over £35m in pre-seed funding.

Foodpreneur

In 2014, Branson and Virgin StartUp launched the "Foodpreneur" food and drink focused start-up competition. Winners received mentorship from Branson, legal support, and brand counseling. The 2014 winners included Proper Beans, Killer Tomato, Sweetpea Pantry, and Sweet Virtues. In 2015, winners were given the opportunity to pitch

Target Corporation Target Corporation ( doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a com ...

buyers in the US. The 2015 winners included Pip & Nut, Double Dutch Drinks, Harry Bromptons, Cauli Rice, and Mallow and Marsh. Only one start-up was announced winner of the 2017 Foodpreneur prize, The Snaffling Pig Co., who won a six-week rental space at Intu Lakeside, the retail center with the highest foot traffic in the U.K.

Senior leadership

* ''Chairman:'' Peter Norris (since 2009) * ''Chief Executive'': Josh Bayliss (since 2014)

List of former chairmen

Sir Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

(1970–2009)

List of former chief executives

# Sir Richard Branson (1970–2005) # Stephen Murphy (2005–2011) # David Baxby and Josh Bayliss (2011–2014)

Subsidiaries and investments

G-VINE A330 Virgin Atlantic by Mark Harkin

Formerly owned ventures

Absolute Radio Absolute Radio is a British National radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via Digital audio broadcasting and on 1215 kHz MW. History 1993–1997: Vi ...

: formerly Virgin Radio UK, rebranded in 2008 *

Air Nigeria Air Nigeria (originally Virgin Nigeria Airways, and then Nigerian Eagle Airlines) was the national flag carrier of Nigeria, which operated scheduled regional and domestic passenger services. The airline's base was Murtala Mohammed International ...

: Nigerian national airline launched as Virgin Nigeria, shares sold in 2010 *

Connect Airways Connect Airways was a consortium formed in December 2018 to acquire the British regional airline Flybe, which had put itself up for sale in November 2018 after issuing a profit warning the previous month, The consortium comprised Virgin Atlantic ...

(

Flybe Flybe (pronounced ), styled as flybe, is a British airline based at Birmingham Airport, England. History The airline traces its history back to Jersey European Airways, which was set up in 1979 following the merger of Intra Airways and Expre ...

): 30% stake held through Virgin Atlantic. Entered administration in March 2020. * Virgin Airship and Balloon Company: Operating hot air balloons and airships for advertisers *

Liquid Comics Liquid Comics is an Indian comic book Publishers company, founded in 2006 as Virgin Comics LLC, which produced stories (many of which are Indian-culture related) for an international audience. The company was founded by Sir Richard Branson and his ...

: comic book producer formerly known as Virgin Comics—sold to management in 2008 * Vie at Home: cosmetics retailer formerly known as Virgin Vie, sold to management in 2009 *

Virgin America Virgin America Inc. was a low-cost U.S. airline that operated from 2007 until 2018, when it was acquired by Alaska Airlines. The airline primarily focused on operating low-fare service between cities on the West Coast and other major metropol ...

: North American airline, sold to Alaska Air Group on 14 Dec 2016 * Virgin Brides: retailer specialising in bridal wear *

Virgin Care Virgin Care was a British private provider of community health and social services, commissioned by the National Health Service and local authorities in England. From 2010 the company was known as Virgin Care and was part of Virgin Group. In Dec ...

sold to Twenty20 Capital and rebranded as HCRG Care Group on 1 December 2021 * Virgin Cars: online car retailer, ceased trading in 2005 * Virgin Charter:

online marketplace An online marketplace (or online e-commerce marketplace) is a type of e-commerce website where product or service information is provided by multiple third parties. Online marketplaces are the primary type of multichannel ecommerce and can be a wa ...

of private aircraft seat bookings *

Virgin Cinemas Virgin Cinemas was founded in 1995 when Richard Branson's Virgin Group acquired MGM Cinemas, the largest movie theatre operator in the United Kingdom. Virgin Group bought the cinemas for £195m, and subsequently sold 90 of the chain's smalles ...

: sold to UGC in 1999 * Virgin Digital Help: technical support *

Virgin Drinks Virgin Drinks was a company that marketed Virgin Cola and Virgin Vodka. It was a subsidiary of the Virgin Group owned by Richard Branson. The company was started in 1994 in conjunction with Cott to oversee and manage the product of Virgin Cola ...

: drink manufacturer **

Virgin Cola Virgin Cola was a carbonated cola soft drink, launched in 1994. History Virgin Cola was set up during the early 1990s in conjunction with Cott, an American-Canadian company that specialises in bottling own-label drinks. Cott was looking for a ...

: carbonated cola soft drink **

Virgin Vodka Virgin Vodka was an alcoholic beverage produced by Virgin Drinks Virgin Drinks was a company that marketed Virgin Cola and Virgin Vodka. It was a subsidiary of the Virgin Group owned by Richard Branson. The company was started in 1994 in con ...

: alcoholic beverage **

v-Mix Virgin Drinks was a company that marketed Virgin Cola and Virgin Vodka. It was a subsidiary of the Virgin Group owned by Richard Branson. The company was started in 1994 in conjunction with Cott to oversee and manage the product of Virgin ...

: spirit mixers * Virgin Electronics: electronics retailer * Virgin Energy: joint venture energy provider * Virgin Express: airline based in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, merged with

SN Brussels Airlines SN Brussels Airlines (SNBA) was the national airline of Belgium, which mainly operated from Brussels Airport. SNBA was the trading name of the Belgian airline Delta Air Transport. SNBA was a full-service airline, connecting Brussels with the ...

in 2006 to form

Brussels Airlines Brussels Airlines is the flag carrier and largest airline of Belgium, based and headquartered at Brussels Airport. It operates to over 100 destinations in Europe, North America and Africa and also offers charter services, maintenance and crew ...

* V Festival: British music festival sponsored by the Virgin Group * V Festival (Australia): an Australian version of the V Festival * Virgin Festival: a North American version of the V Festival *

Virgin Films Virgin Films was a film production company of the early 1980s best known for making '' Nineteen Eighty Four'' (1984). It was part of the Virgin Group and was headed by Al Clark.Alexander Walker, ''Icons in the Fire: The Rise and Fall of Practic ...

: film production company *

Virgin Games Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwoo ...

: sold to Gamesys in 2013 *

Virgin Green Fund Virgin Green Fund was established in 2007 to invest in companies in the renewable energy and resource efficiency sectors in the US and Europe. It closed in 2014. Investment history The fund's first fundraising round raised $199m from Virgin an ...

: shut down in 2014 *

Virgin Health Bank Precision Cellular Storage is a transport quality cord blood stem cell bank A cell bank is a facility that stores cells of specific genome for the purpose of future use in a product or medicinal needs. They often contain expansive amounts of base ...

: sold to

Qatar Foundation Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development ( ar, مؤسسة قطر) is a state-led non-profit organization in Qatar, founded in 1995 by then- emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his second wife Moza bint Nasser. Qatar Fo ...

* Virgin Interactive: Game Developer and publisher, bought by various companies, and renamed Avalon Interactive in 2003 * Virgin Limousines: a former

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...

service that operated mostly in the US and Canada. It operated for 14 years, until November 2010. *

(including

Virgin Mobile UK Virgin Mobile is a mobile phone service provider operating in the United Kingdom. It is owned by Virgin Media which is part of Virgin Media O2. The company was launched by Virgin Group in 1999 as the world's first mobile virtual network opera ...

): UK Cable TV, broadband internet and Fixed and Mobile telephony provider—bought by

* Virgin Mobile Australia: mobile phone service provider in Australia—shares sold to Optus in 2006 *

Virgin Mobile France Virgin Mobile France was a cellular telephone operator in France. It launched in 2006 as a joint venture between Virgin Group and Carphone Warehouse. The company operated as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), whereby it did not own or oper ...

: mobile phone service provider in France—shares sold to

Numericable-SFR SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company. As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...

in 2014 *

Virgin Mobile India Airtel India is the second largest provider of mobile telephony and third largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. The brand is operated by several subsidiaries o ...

: mobile phone service provider in India—shares sold to Tata Teleservices in 2015 * Virgin Mobile USA: mobile phone service provider in the USA—shares sold to

Sprint Corporation Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before it merged with T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. The ...

in 2009, ceased operations in 2020. *

Virgin Money Australia Virgin Money Australia is an Australian financial services company owned by Bank of Queensland, and has 150,000 customers. History Foundation In 2003, Virgin Money was launched in Australia with the launch of Virgin Money credit cards. Virgin M ...

: sold to

Bank of Queensland The Bank of Queensland (branded BOQ) is an Australian retail bank with headquarters in Brisbane, Queensland. The bank is one of the oldest financial institutions in Queensland, having begun as a building society. It now has 163 branches througho ...

* Virgin Money US: sold in 2010 * Virgin Nigeria: national flag carrier of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. ceased operations in 2012 * Virgin One account: shareholding sold to co-owner (RBS) in 2003 * Virgin Sun Airlines: scheduled and charter airline, closed in 2001 * Virgin Play: Spanish game distributor and publisher, filed for liquidation and closed in 2009 * Virgin Plus: (formerly Virgin Mobile Canada) mobile phone service provider in Canada—shares sold to joint venture partner

Bell Mobility Bell Mobility Inc. is a Canadian wireless network operator and the division of Bell Canada which offers wireless services across Canada. It operates networks using LTE and HSPA+ on its mainstream networks. Bell Mobility is the third-largest ...

in 2009 * Virgin Snow, 1986 joint venture with Bladon Lines Ski Vacations * Virgin Trains ExpressCoach: former operator of inter-city bus & coach services (51%) *

Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in t ...

: former operator of the Cross Country

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

franchise in the United Kingdom, superseded by

Arriva CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the Cross Country franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) i ...

in 2007 (51%) *

Virgin EMI Records Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgi ...

: soundtrack label—owned by

: American music soundtrack label *

Virgin Racing Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in with a British licence and in with a Russian ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

motor racing team * Virginware: clothing retailer * Virgin Wines: online wine market, sold to Direct Wines in 2005 * Virgin Trains West Coast: train operating company on the West Coast Main Line. Renewed franchise bid unsuccessful, superseded by Avanti West Coast in December 2019 (51%) * Virgin Trains East Coast: train operating company, supersed by

London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company. It is owned by the DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Fou ...

in June 2018 (10%) * Virgin Trains USA: train operating company between Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida. Branding deal launched in late 2018, ended in 2020. *Virgin Video (aka Virgin Vision): home video distributor, sold to

Management Company Entertainment Group Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...

in 1989.

Controversies

The parent company, Virgin Group Holdings Ltd, is registered in the

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Brit ...

. Richard Branson and his family hold a £2.7 billion stake in this offshore, tax-free, tax haven company. The group's health business received significant media coverage over its legal battle with NHS groups. It sued clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Surrey after it lost out on an £82 million contract to provide children's health services across the country. The NHS bodies settled out of court with a £328,000 payout to Virgin Care, resulting in some controversy. More than 100,000 people backed a petition calling on the company to stop "dragging the NHS through the courts". In 2019, it was discovered that cell phones being sold by Virgin subsidiary company Assurance Wireless came with unremovable Chinese malware preinstalled.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Virgin Group Airline holding companies British brands British companies established in 1970 Companies based in London Conglomerate companies of the United Kingdom Holding companies established in 1970 Holding companies of the United Kingdom