Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British entrepreneur and the founder of the Virgin Group. He began Virgin as a mail-order record business in 1970 and later expanded into music retail and the Virgin Records label. Over time, the Virgin brand grew to include ventures in travel and telecommunications, including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Mobile. Branson has also pursued commercial spaceflight through Virgin Galactic. He is the author of business and autobiographical books, including *Losing My Virginity* (1998) and *The Virgin Way* (2014). He was knighted in 2000 for services to entrepreneurship.