Virgin Group
Virgin Group Limited is a British branded venture capital conglomerate organisation founded by business tycoon Richard Branson.[2] The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle. 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 £5.01 billion. It consists of more than 400 companies around the world.
Virgin Group operates from its headquarters at The School House, 50 Brook Green in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.[3]
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 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 current Virgin logo was originally sketched on a paper napkin and remains largely unchanged since 1979.
Virgin brand
- AirAsia X — long-haul budget airline operating from Malaysia (16% owned by Virgin Group)
- V Festival — two-day music festival held in two separate locations in the United Kingdom
- 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 in Crawley, West Sussex, UK
- Virgin Balloon Flights — a hot air balloon operator
- Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
- Virgin Books — publisher, retailer and distributor of books (10% owned by Virgin Group)
- Virgin Brides — now-defunct 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 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, online casino, online poker, online bingo (previously video games for home computers)
- Virgin Green Fund (originally known as Virgin Fuels) — venture capital firm for investing in petroleum alternatives
- Virgin Health Bank[4] — 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
- Bales Worldwide Ltd - Small UK Tour Operator
- Virgin Limited Edition — exclusive hotel operator
- Virgin Limobike — passenger bike service in London
- Virgin Limousines — chauffeured limousine service in San Francisco and Northern California
- Virgin Media — provider of home telephone, cable television, broadband and mobile services to the United Kingdom
- 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 Money — providers of financial services
- Virgin Money Giving — Online fundraising website
- Virgin Oceanic - sea exploration
- Virgin Nigeria — A former subsidiary of Virgin Atlantic Airlines
- Virgin Play — a Spanish publisher of video games, once part of the now defunct Virgin Interactive.
- Virgin Produced — a film and television development, packaging and production company formed in 2010 and led by Chief Executive Officer Jason Felts and Chief Creative Officer Justin Berfield.
- Virgin Racing — a Formula One team new for 2010, formerly called Manor.
- Virgin Radio — Virgin branded radio stations around the world.
- 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 Trains ExpressCoach — Intercity bus & coach services
- 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 (Sent into Administration in 2009, having been rebranded 9 months earlier as Effective Cosmetics (However still selling Virgin Vie branded products)
- Virgin Wines — A Californian-based Internet wine retailer, 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 Management — Custodians
See also
References
External links
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Virgin Group
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