Richard Branson

Richard Branson was born in Blackheath, London. He is the son of Edward James Branson (10 March 1918 - 19th March 2011) and Eve Huntley Branson. His grandfather Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson was a judge of the high court of justice. Richard Branson attended Stowe school until he dropped out at the age of sixteen. He had dyslexia and had a very poor academic performance, but hen he realised how well he could connect with others. On one of his last Branson's head teacher told him that he would either end up being in prison or being a millionaire.

Richard Branson started his record label from the crypt of a church, he advertised new popular records in 'the student' magazine which he also ran. This became an overnight success. Under the company name 'virgin' he sold records for far less than the high street outlets. Richard began to sell studio time, which was the beginning of the chart topping album 'Tubular Bells' by Mike Oldfield. Branson was a risk taker, he signed controversial artists that none else would sign, including the sex pistols. He later sold Virgin records to EMI for £500Million he says that when the transaction was completed he wept, because the record company was the start of the Virgin empire. He later started up V2 records to re-enter the music industry.

Traits and Characteristics:

Risk Taker - He signed artists that other labels were afraid to sign

Dedicated - He genuinely cared about the label, he showed real emotion when he sold it to EMI.

Hard Working - Richard Branson built up a multi billion pound 

Organised - Gets everything done efficiently 

Time Keeping - Gets the job done on time

Confidence - Knows what decisions to make and goes through with them

Weaknesses:
Possibly too successful - All the fame and power could go to his head
Makes very risky decisions - Some of his decisions have almost caused him to go bankrupt multiple times.