Virgin Group

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Virgin Group
Type	Private (Limited liability)
Founded	1968 (Incorporation: 1989)
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Key people	Richard Branson, Chairman Stephen Murphy, CEO Susannah Parden, CFO
Products	Beverages Airlines Trains Games Financial services Internet Cable TV Music Radio Cosmetics & Jewellery Homeware Retail Mobile phones
Revenue	US$20 billion ▲ (2006)[1]
Employees	35,000
Website	www.virgin.com

Virgin Group Ltd is a conglomeration of separately run companies that each use the Virgin brand of British celebrity business tycoon Sir Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle, among others. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding company; however Virgin's business and trading activities date to the 1970s.

Although Branson retains complete ownership and control of the Virgin Brand, the commercial set up of companies using it is varied and complex. The group is sometimes perceived as a conglomerate, but this is not in fact the case. Each of the companies operating under the Virgin brand are separate entities, with some being wholly owned by Branson, while he holds minority or majority stakes in others. Occasionally, he simply licenses the brand to a company that has purchased a division from him, such as Virgin Radio (now part of STV Group plc) and Virgin Music (now part of EMI). With a few exceptions, all of the companies began as wholly owned Virgin subsidiaries.

Virgin brands (under various ownership)

Further information: List of Richard Branson's business ventures

• AirAsia X — long-haul budget airline operating from Malaysia (20% owned by Virgin Group)
• Oüı FM — rock radio station in France and Asia
• V Festival — two-day music festival held in two separate locations in the United Kingdom
  • V Festival (Australia) — an Australian version of the V Festival
  • Virgin Festival — a North American version of the V Festival
• Virgin Active — a health club chain in South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK
• Virgin America — a United States budget airline based at San Francisco International Airport
• Virgin Atlantic Airways — an international carrier based at Heathrow Airport, London
• Virgin Balloon Flights — a hot air balloon operator
• Virgin Blue — an Australian-based budget airline operating in the South Pacific
  • Blue Holidays — The holiday program of Virgin Blue, now a joint venture between Virgin Blue and Zuji
  • Pacific Blue — a Virgin Blue subsidiary based in New Zealand
  • Polynesian Blue — a Virgin Blue subsidiary based in Samoa
  • V Australia — a planned Virgin Blue international subsidiary set to offer flights between Australia and the USA
• Virgin Books — publisher, retailer and distributor of books
• Virgin Brides — bridal wear shop in Manchester, UK
• Virgin Charter — a private jet online marketplace
• Virgin Comics — comic book producer
• Virgin Vie At Home — retailer of cosmetics, jewellery and homeware through internet, direct selling and Virgin Vie stores
• Virgin Drinks — drink manufacturer
  • Virgin Cola — carbonated cola soft drink
  • Virgin Vodka — alcoholic beverage
• Virgin Experience Days — corporate and consumer experience events
• Virgin Flowers — Internet florist
• Virgin Galactic — a venture to market and operate commercial space flights, using spacecraft designed by Scaled Composites
• Virgin Games — online games and gambling
• Virgin Green Fund (originally known as Virgin Fuels) — venture capital firm for investing in petroleum alternatives
• Virgin Health Bank^[2] — a business enabling parents—to—be to store their baby's stem cells
• Virgin Holidays — UK travel agency and tour operator for worldwide destinations served by Virgin Atlantic and its partner companies
  • Virgin Holidays Cruises — UK cruise holiday agent
• Virgin Limited Edition — exclusive hotel operator
  • Kasbah Tamadot — exclusive Moroccan holiday destination
  • Lady B — luxurious Catamaran available for Caribbean charters
  • The Lodge — ski lodge
  • Natirar — private spa located in Somerset County, New Jersey
  • Necker Island — exclusive island in British Virgin Islands for private hire
  • The Roof Gardens and Babylon — 1.5 acres open air gardens, venue, nightclub and restaurant in Kensington, London
  • Ulusaba — exclusive game reserve in South Africa
• Virgin Limobike — passenger bike service in London
• Virgin Limousines — chauffeured limousine service in San Francisco and Northern California
• Virgin Media — provider or home telephone, cable television, broadband and mobile services to the United Kingdom
• Virgin Media Television — a British television network, made up of Virgin 1, Trouble, Bravo, Living TV & 50% stake in UKTV
  • Virgin 1 — a general entertainment channel on Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky Digital
• Virgin Mobile — brand used by several companies providing mobile phone service around the world
  • Virgin Mobile UK — provides mobile phone service in the United Kingdom, now part of Virgin Media
  • Virgin Mobile Australia — provider of mobile phone service in Australia
  • Virgin Mobile Canada — provider of mobile phone service in Canada
  • Virgin Mobile South Africa — provider of mobile phone service in South Africa
  • Virgin Mobile USA — provider of mobile phone service in the United States
  • Virgin Mobile France — provider of mobile phone service in France
  • Virgin Mobile India — provider of mobile phone service in India
• Virgin Money — providers of financial services
  • Virgin Credit Card
• Virgin Nigeria — international, regional and domestic Nigerian airline
• Virgin Play — a Spanish publisher of video games, once part of the now defunct Virgin Interactive.
• Virgin Radio — (now owned by STV Group plc) British commercial radio station broadcast on AM, FM (London only), DAB, internet, Digital TV
  • Virgin Radio Asia — collection of station operating in India and Thailand including Virgin Soft, Hitz, Easy FM and Oui
  • Virgin Radio Classic Rock — (STV Group plc) classic rock station broadcast on DAB, internet and Satellite TV
  • Virgin Radio (France) — -(Lagardère Active) a rebranding of the "Europe 2" radio station
  • Virgin Radio Groove — (STV Group plc) soul, motown and disco music station broadcast on DAB, internet and Satellite TV
  • Virgin Radio Italy — An Italian radio station
  • Virgin Radio Xtreme — (STV Group plc) rock station aimed at teenage males broadcast on DAB, internet and Satellite TV
• Virgin Records — record label now owned by EMI
• Virgin Spa — shop chain retailing Virgin Cosmetics product
• Virgin Trains — a railway operator in the United Kingdom
• Virgin Unite — charitable foundation
• Virgin Vacations — U.S. travel agency
• Virgin Vines — A Californian—based company, created in 2005 and producer of Red and White wines
• Virgin Voucher — gift voucher scheme, also functions as a staff reward scheme
• Virgin Ware — clothes brand and retailer

See also

• Heaven - Nightclub formerly owned by Branson
• List of Richard Branson's business ventures

References

External links

• Official Website of Virgin Group

Business data

• Virgin Group Ltd. at Google Finance
• Virgin Group Ltd. at Yahoo Finance
• Virgin Group Ltd. at Hoover's