Richard Branson pumps £30m windfall into Virgin Brands
Richard Branson has invested some £30m worth of royalties back into his Virgin brand.
The British billionaire pumped £25m into the Virgin group last year, down from £85m in 2018.
The cash is intended to help support the businesses hit hardest by successive Covid-19 lockdowns worldwide, namely Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Galactic, Branson’s lagging space venture, also suffered under the Covid-19 pandemic. The company’s stock price swallowed significant losses in 2021.
Branson cut back his stake in the company in May 2020 in a bid to prop up his other, pandemic-hit businesses.
Increasing competition from the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos has also weighed on Virgin Galactic’s success.
Virgin Enterprises, which manages and develops the wider Virgin brand, reported pre-tax profit of £34m yesterday.
The figure was down by around £6m from the previous year, which the business put down to rising staff costs and management services fees.