Virgin Group

Virgin Group

Type	Private ( Limited liability)
Industry	conglomerate
Founded	1970 (Incorporation: 1989)
Headquarters	The School House, 50 Brook Green, Hammersmith and Fulham, London, England
Key people	Richard Branson, Chairman Stephen Murphy, CEO Susannah Parden, CFO
Products	Beverages Airlines Trains Games Consumer electronics Financial services Films Internet Cable TV Music Radio Books Cosmetics Jewellery Houseware Retail Mobile phones
Revenue	US$20 billion (2006)
Employees	35,000
Website	www.virgin.com

Virgin Group Ltd is a branded venture capital organisation founded by British 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. The net worth of Virgin Group Ltd as of September 2008 is £5,010,000,000.

Virgin Group operates its headquarters at The School House, 50 Brook Green in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

Although Branson retains complete ownership and control of the Virgin Brand, the commercial set-up of companies using it is varied and complex. Each of the companies operating under the Virgin brand is a separate entity, with Branson completely owning some and holding 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 Mobile USA, Virgin Mobile Australia, Virgin Radio (now part of TIML Radio Limited) and Virgin Music (now part of EMI).

The brand name "Virgin" arose when Branson and a partner were starting their first business, a record shop. They considered themselves virgins in business. The Virgin logo was originally sketched on a paper napkin and remains largely unchanged from the original style used.

Virgin brands

• 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 Australia, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK
• Virgin America — a United States budget airline based at San Francisco International Airport (25% owned by Virgin Group)
• Virgin Atlantic Airways — an international carrier based at Heathrow Airport, London
• Virgin Balloon Flights — a hot air balloon operator
• Virgin Blue Holdings Limited
  • Virgin Blue — an Australian-based 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 Virgin Blue international subsidiary offering flights between Australia and the USA, Thailand (November 2009) and South Africa (March 2010)
• Virgin Books — publisher, retailer and distributor of books
• Virgin Brides — bridal wear shop in Manchester, UK
• Virgin Cars — internet automobile retailer
• Virgin Charter — a private jet online marketplace
• Virgin Comics — comic book producer
• Virgin Drinks — drink manufacturer
  • Virgin Cola — carbonated cola soft drink
  • Virgin Vodka — alcoholic beverage
  • v-Mix - spirit mixers
• Virgin Energy — a former UK energy supplier
• 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 — a business enabling parents to store their baby's stem cells
• Virgin Healthcare provides a selection of healthcare services tailored to local demand
• Virgin HealthMiles
• 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
  • Travel City Direct - UK Online Travel Agent for holidays to florida. Acquired from the now defunct XL Leisure Group after it went into administration.
    • Travel City Direct Cruises - UK cruise holiday operator for holidays to Florida and the Caribbean
• 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 (6,100 m²) 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 Megastores — CD, DVD and games retailer chain with high—street and online stores
  • Virgin XS — Factory Outlet—orientated format of Virgin Megastores
• 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 — Virgin branded radio stations around the world.
  • Virgin Radio Asia — collection of station operating in India and Thailand including Virgin Soft, Hitz, Easy FM and Oui
  • Virgin 99.9FM - a Canadian radio station, broadcasting a hot adult contemporary format at 99.9 on the FM dial in Toronto, Ontario. The station is owned by Astral Media. Formerly branded as 99.9 Mix FM, it adopted its current brand on 2008-08-25, pursuant to a licence from the Virgin Group.
  • Virgin 95.9FM - a Canadian radio station, broadcasting a hot adult contemporary format at 95.9 on the FM dial in Montreal, Quebec. This 41,200 watts station is owned by Astral Media. Station serves Montreal and adjacent eastern Ontario and Northern New York and Vermont.
  • Virgin Radio (France) — -( Lagardère Active) a rebranding of the "Europe 2" radio station
  • Virgin Radio Groove — ( TIML Radio Limited) soul, motown and disco music station broadcast on DAB, internet and Satellite TV
  • Virgin Radio Italia — ( Gruppo Finelco) An Italian radio station
• 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 Vie At Home — retailer of body care, cosmetics, homeware and jewellery products through the Internet, direct selling and Virgin Vie stores
• Virgin Wines — 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
• Virgin Wines - Internet based wine retailer