How Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group makes money and what it’s worth today
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has long captured the imaginations of entrepreneurs around the world.
From humble beginnings, Branson built Virgin into one of the world’s most recognisable brands, spanning a range of industries.
However, in recent years, the group has faced pressure from the pandemic, and it’s been unable to compete with deeper-pocketed investors and companies.
Meanwhile, Virgin’s founder and leader, Branson, has been taking more of a backseat, with the group selling down holdings and licencing its brand rather than charging ahead with growth.
And in recent weeks, Virgin has been back in the news again. In the UK, Nationwide has agreed to buy Virgin Money, which could generate a large fee for the Virgin Group
Virgin Group is reportedly set to receive a £250m exit fee as part of the deal.
Meanwhile, is said to be preparing to axe eight per cent of its 425-strong workforce in a move which will see the brand and licensing arm Virgin Management and loyalty scheme Virgin Red combined.
A Virgin Group spokesperson said: “We have recently announced some proposed changes to complete the integration of two businesses in the Virgin Group – Virgin Management, our brand licensing, investment and portfolio management company and Virgin Red, our loyalty programme.
“We first started the integration of these companies more than three years ago and these changes are designed to streamline our operations and set us up for long-term growth. The changes will reduce our workforce by around 8 per cent (32 roles), and we will do as much as we can to support the employees impacted.”
While Virgin-branded businesses employ around 60,000 people in 35 countries around the world, the group does not control many of the organisations that bear its name. While Branson built his reputation as a founder and entrepreneur, the group has sold off or divested stakes in its core businesses over the years, and adopted a licensing model in many cases.
Below, CityAM has taken a look at what Virgin Group still owns and what companies pay to use the brand’s name.
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic was founded in 1984 and is 51 per cent owned by Virgin Group and 49 per cent by Delta Air Lines.
It has become Britain’s second-largest carrier, with non-stop transatlantic routes from London Heathrow, including New York, Orlando, the Caribbean, Delhi and Johannesburg.
In its most recently published set of accounts, for 2022, Virgin Atlantic posted a revenue of £2.8bn, up from £928m, and pre-tax losses of £268.9m, having also lost £204.9m the year before.
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Virgin Atlantic announced plans to cut its headcount by 3,000, reduce its fleet size by 35 by the summer of 2022 and stop flights from Gatwick, which it later u-turned on.
It filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York in August 2020 as part of a £1.2bn private refinancing package.
Virgin Atlantic Holidays
The travel company was founded a year after Virgin Atlantic and offers holidays worldwide with destinations including the US and Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian Ocean and the Far East.
Originally called Virgin Holidays, it was rebranded in May 2020.
The company sits within Virgin Atlantic and is, therefore, 51 per cent owned by Virgin Group and 49 per cent by Delta Air Lines.
In its most recently published accounts, for 2022, Virgin Atlantic Holidays posted a revenue of £487.1m, up from £63.2m, and pre-tax losses of £2.1m, down from losses of £38.9m.
Virgin Active
Virgin Active was founded in the late 1990s by Sir Richard Branson and Matthew Bucknall, who stepped down as CEO in 2022.
The group’s first club was opened in Preston, Lancashire, while it now runs 232 across the world.
South African billionaire Christo Wiese owns it through private equity firm Brait SE and 16.8 per cent is owned by Virgin Group.
Mr Wiese bought into the brand in 2015 for £682m when plans for an IPO were cancelled.
According to its most recently published set of accounts, for 2022, Virgin Active made a pre-tax loss of £147.3m, having lost £1.5m in the prior year. However, its revenue increased from £292.2m to £436.4m over the same period.
The latest pre-tax loss compared to the £583.7m loss it made in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The last time the group made a pre-tax profit was the £22.2m it reported for 2018.
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic was founded by Sir Richard Branson in 2004 and the Virgin group holds a 11.9 per cent stake through Virgin Investments.
The company is headquartered in California and operates from New Mexico.
Virgin Galactic’s maiden spaceflight occurred in 2018 with its VSS Unity spaceship, eight years after Sir Richard had originally targeted.
The business listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2019 with a market value of more than $2.4bn.
In June 2023, Virgin Galactic successfully launched its first commercial space flight.
As of 2022, the company’s revenue stood at £2.81m and it employed more than 1,100 people.
Virgin Hotels Collections
Virgin Hotels is owned by Virgin Group and was launched in 2010.
Headquartered in Miami, it operates seven locations after opening its first in 2015.
It now operates hotels in Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, and Edinburgh. Further hotels are planned for Miami and Denver in 2025. It formally operated hotels in San Francisco and Glasgow.
The hotel chain operates within Virgin Hotels Collections, the parent brand for Virgin Limited Edition.
Virgin Limited Edition is Sir Richard Branson’s private global collection of retreats, hotels, and exclusive islands.
The group includes Necker Island and Moskito Island in the Caribbean’s British Virgin Islands, Ulusaba Private Game Reserve in South Africa, Kasbah Tamadot in Morocco, The Lodge in Verbier, Mahali Mzuri, a tented safari camp in Kenya, Mont Rochelle Hotel and Mountain Vineyard in South Africa, and the Son Bunyola Estate in Mallorca.
Virgin Radio
Virgin Radio was launched in 1993 and sold to The Times of India group in 2008. Its name was changed to Absolute Radio, but the naming rights were not included in the sale.
In 2001, Virgin Group teamed up with an Asia-focused investment fund to launch Virgin Radio Asia. Radio stations were launched in China, India and Thailand between 2002 and 2006.
Virgin Radio Asia became Virgin Radio International in 2006. Virgin Radio UK was launched in 2016 and is owned by Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp.
Virgin Voyages
Virgin Voyages is a cruise line headquartered in Florida and is owned by Ares Management, Bain Capital and the Virgin Group.
Virgin Voyages was set up at the end of 2014 and is run by president and CEO Tom McAlpin.
As of May 2023, the company had three ships in the fleet, with one more on order.
Virgin Books
Virgin Books was founded in 1979 by Sir Richard Branson in London.
It is currently 90 per cent owned by Random House and 10 per cent by Virgin Group.
Virgin Fibra
Virgin Fibra, which was founded in 2020 and launched in 2022, is an Italian telecommunications company.
Virgin Group owns 33.3 per cent of the company, while Italian and foreign investors hold the rest of the shares. The company is led by founder and CEO Tom Mockridge.
Virgin Pure
Virgin Pure sells water purifiers and is majority-owned by Strauss Group.
In its most recently published accounts, for 2022, the company posted a revenue of £7.6m, up from £6.1m, while its pre-tax losses widened from £4.4m to £6.2m.
The brand was introduced to the UK after Sir Richard Branson agreed a deal with Israeli company Strauss Water in 2012.
Virgin Red
Virgin Red is a rewards club that lets customers earn points to spend on brands within the group.
In its most recently published accounts, for 2022, the company’s revenue totalled £62.2m, up from £24m, while its pre-tax losses were cut from £18.3m to £1.4m.
Virgin Trains Ticketing sits within the company and allows customers to buy UK train tickets.
Virgin Unite
Virgin Unite is the independent non-profit foundation of the Virgin Group
It was founded in 2004 by Sir Richard Branson and is a successor to The Healthcare Foundation.
Virgin Unite pools volunteering efforts from across the group and its subsidiaries and associated companies.
Which Virgin brands does the group not own?
Virgin Media 02
Virgin Media was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Reading.
In June 2021, it formed a 50:50 joint venture with 02 to become Virgin Media 02.
It is now owned by Liberty Global and Telefónica.
Just over two years later, it was announced that the group was cutting its headcount by up to 2,000 by the end of 2023.
Virgin Media Business, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Media Ireland operate within the group.
Virgin Money
Virgin Money was founded in 1995 by Sir Richard Branson and currently has operations in the UK and Australia.
In March 2024, Nationwide struck a preliminary agreement to acquire Virgin Money in a deal that valued it at around £2.9bn.
Virgin Money is Britain’s sixth-biggest high street bank and was previously sold to the owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks, CYBG, for £1.7bn in 2018.
Virgin Money has around 7,300 staff but is on a mission to reduce costs as it transitions to online banking.
The lender cut 150 jobs last quarter and has warned there could be more to come.
Virgin Megastore
Virgin Megastore was founded in 1976 by Sir Richard Branson as a record shop in London’s Oxford Street.
It expanded to hundreds of stores but eventually closed its European, North American, Australian, Japanese and Chinese stores.
By 2015, the brand operated only in the Middle East and in North Africa.
Virgin Megastores in the Middle East currently trades as V Star Multimedia LLC.
Virgin Australia
Virgin Australia was founded in 2000 as Virgin Blue by Sir Richard Branson and former CEO Brett Godfrey.
The carrier is headquartered in South Bank, Queensland, and is the largest by fleet size to use the Virgin brand.
The airline entered administration in April 2020 and was purchased by Bain Capital in August of that year.
Virgin Group had previously owned 10 per cent of the airline.
Virgin Experience Days
Headquartered in Buckinghamshire, Virgin Experience Days was launched in 1988 as Acorne Sports and uses the Virgin brand under licence.
It was taken over by Acorne in 2002 before Inflexion Private Equity led a buyout in 2017.
In its most recently published accounts, for the year to June 2022, the company’s turnover totalled £86m, up from £44.3m, and pre-tax profits of £10.5m, up from a loss of £316,000.
Virgin Experience Gifts operates within the same business.
Virgin Wines
Virgin Wines was set up by Virgin Group in 2000 and was bought in 2005 by Direct Wines.
In 2013, CEO Jay Wright, and the management team, supported by Mobeus Equity Partners and Connection Capital, supported a £15.9m management buy-out.
In January, Virgin Wines reported its sales ticked up in the second half of 2023, despite a “subdued consumer economic landscape” which has weighed heavily on the sector’s bottom line over the last year.
The direct-to-consumer wine retailer said that its total revenue rose two per cent year-on-year to £34.3m in the six months to December 29.
Virgin Wines reported a “significant improvement in profitability”, driven by revenue growth, production cost reduction and a new warehouse system.
Virgin Balloon Flights
Virgin Balloon Flights is headquartered in Telford, Shropshire, and was founded in 1994.
Run and owned by CEO Kenneth Karlstrom, the company uses the Virgin brand through a licensing agreement.
Virgin Music
Virgin Music was set up in 1983 as Caroline Distribution by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Records.
It operates as a subsidiary of Virgin Music Group, and is owned by Universal Music Group.
Virgin Music operates in the United States, Japan, the UK, Germany, France and across Latin America.
Virgin Records
Virgin Records was set up in 1972 by Sir Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell and Tom Newman.
It saw success after signing the likes of Phil Collins, Janet Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, the Sex Pistols and Culture Club.
It was sold to Thorn EMI in 1992 and has been owned by Universal Music Group since 2012.
Virgin Bet
Virgin Bet is headquartered in Gibraltar and is a sports betting website. It is owned by Gametes Group plc.
Virgin Games
Virgin Games is owned and operated by Gamesys Operations Limited and focuses on slots and live dealers.
Virgin Casino
Virgin Casino is owned by Gamesys and licences the Virgin brand. It operates a venue in New Jersey, USA.
Virgin Plus
Virgin Plus was founded in 2005 as Virgin Mobile Canada as a joint venture between Virgin group and BCE Inc.
BCE took sole ownership in July 2009.
Virgin Pulse
Virgin Pulse is a health, well-being and navigation company.
It completed a merger in November 2023 with third-party health benefits administrator HealthComp.
The combined company is valued at $3bn.