Virgin Group

Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational branded venture capital conglomerate founded by entrepreneur Richard Branson and Nik Powell. Its core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle, and it also manages ventures in financial services, transport, health care, food and drink, media and telecommunications; together, Virgin's businesses consist of more than 400 companies worldwide.

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 as of September 2008 was £5.01 billion.

Contents

 * 1 Name
 * 2 Corporate affairs
 * 3 Subsidiaries and investments
 * 4 Formerly owned ventures
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links

Name
The brand name "Virgin" arose when Branson and Powell were starting their first business, a record shop. They considered themselves virgins in business. Branson has described the "V" in the logo as an expressive tick, representing the Virgin seal of approval.

Corporate affairs
Virgin Group operates from its headquarters at The Battleship Building in the Paddington district of the City of Westminster.[4] Previously it was in The School House in theLondon Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.[5]

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 Records (now owned by Universal Music Group) and Virgin Media (now owned byLiberty Global).

In mid-May 2013, the Virgin Group expressed its intention to seek out opportunities in Australia's healthcare industry to consolidate on the Group's Australian fitness centres. The Group also owns more than 100 National Health Service (NHS) services in the United Kingdom and the healthcare division of medical services group Assura after entering the British healthcare industry in 2011.[6]

Subsidiaries and investments[edit]
Further information: List of Richard Branson's business ventures Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 after take-off White Knight Two of Virgin Galactic in the air Virgin Megastore in Dubai
 * 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 the UK, Australia, South Africa, Spain, Singapore, Portugal, and Italy
 * 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 (51% owned by Virgin Group)
 * Virgin Australia Holdings (10% owned by Virgin Group)
 * Virgin Australia — an Australian-based airline
 * Virgin Australia Airlines (NZ) — New Zealand-based airline
 * Virgin Australia Regional Airlines — Australian regional airline
 * Tigerair Australia
 * Virgin Samoa — a Samoan-based airline (49%)
 * Blue Holidays — The holiday programme of Virgin Australia, now a joint venture between Virgin Australia
 * Virgin Balloon Flights — a hot air balloon operator
 * Virgin Books — publisher, retailer and distributor of books (10% owned by Virgin Group)
 * Virgin Care — provides National Health Services care, formerly Assura Medical
 * Virgin Connect — broadband internet access and telephony in Russian Federation
 * Virgin Earth Challenge — competition to find solutions to global warming
 * Virgin Experience Days — corporate and consumer experience events
 * Virgin Galactic — a venture to market and operate commercial space flights, using spacecraft designed by Scaled Composites
 * Virgin Gaming
 * Virgin Green Fund (originally known as Virgin Fuels) — venture capital firm for investing in petroleum alternatives
 * Virgin Health Bank[7] — a business enabling parents to store their baby's stem cells
 * 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 Hotels — brand of hotels
 * Virgin Hotels Chicago — hotel in Chicago
 * Virgin Life Care — fitness group in South Africa
 * 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 Megastores — entertainment retailer, operating in the Middle East
 * Virgin Mobile
 * Virgin Mobile South Africa — mobile phone service provider in South Africa - joint venture with Calico Investments (55%)
 * Virgin Mobile Chile — mobile phone service provider in Chile
 * Virgin Mobile Colombia — mobile phone service provider in Colombia
 * Virgin Mobile India — mobile phone service provider in India - franchise agreement with Tata Teleservices (50%)
 * Virgin Mobile Polska — mobile phone service provider in Poland
 * Virgin Money — providers of financial services
 * Virgin Money UK — a UK bank
 * Virgin Money South Africa
 * Virgin Money Giving — Online fundraising website
 * Virgin Oceanic — undersea leisure venture
 * Virgin Racing (Formula E team) — British motor racing team participating in the FIA Formula E Championship
 * Virgin Radio — radio stations in Canada, France, Turkey, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Thailand
 * Virgin Rail Group
 * Virgin Trains — operator of the InterCity West Coast railway franchise in the United Kingdom (51%)
 * Virgin Trains East Coast — operator of the InterCity East Coast railway franchise in the United Kingdom (10% owned through Inter City Railways)
 * Virgin Unite — charitable foundation
 * Virgin Vacations — U.S. travel agency
 * Virgin Voucher — monetary voucher

Formerly owned ventures[edit]

 * Absolute Radio — formerly Virgin Radio UK, rebranded in 2008
 * Air Nigeria — Nigerian national airline launched as Virgin Nigeria, shares sold in 2010
 * Liquid Comics — comic book producer formerly known as Virgin Comics - sold to management in 2008
 * Vie at Home — cosmetics retailer formerly known as Virgin Vie, sold to management in 2009
 * Virgin Brides — retailer specialising in bridal wear
 * Virgin Cars — online car retailer, ceased trading in 2005
 * Virgin Charter — online marketplace of private aircraft seat bookings
 * Virgin Cinemas — sold to UGC in 1999
 * Virgin Digital Help — technical support
 * Virgin Drinks — drink manufacturer
 * Virgin Cola — carbonated cola soft drink
 * Virgin Vodka — alcoholic beverage
 * v-Mix — spirit mixers
 * Virgin Electronics — electronics retailer
 * Virgin Energy — joint venture energy provider
 * Virgin Express — airline based in Brussels, merged with SN Brussels Airlines in 2006 to form Brussels Airlines
 * V Festival — an Australian version of the V Festival
 * Virgin Festival — a North American version of the V Festival
 * Virgin Films — film production company
 * Virgin Games — sold to Gamesys in 2013
 * Virgin Interactive — closed in 2003
 * Virgin Limousines — limousine service in the USA and Canada
 * Virgin Media (including Virgin Mobile UK) — UK Cable TV, broadband internet and Fixed and Mobile telephony provider - bought by Liberty Global
 * Virgin Mobile Australia — mobile phone service provider in Australia - shares sold to Optus in 2006
 * Virgin Mobile Canada — mobile phone service provider in Canada - shares sold to Bell Mobility in 2009
 * Virgin Mobile France — mobile phone service provider in France - shares sold to Numericable-SFR in 2014
 * Virgin Mobile USA — mobile phone service provider in the USA - shares sold to Sprint Corporation in 2009
 * Virgin Money Australia — sold to Bank of Queensland
 * Virgin Money US — sold in 2010
 * Virgin Sun Airlines — scheduled and charter airline, closed in 2001
 * Virgin Trains ExpressCoach — former operator of inter-city bus & coach services
 * Virgin CrossCountry — former operator of the Cross Country railway franchise in the United Kingdom, services transferred to Arriva in 2007 (51%)
 * Virgin EMI Records - Soundtrack label - owned by Universal Music Group
 * Virgin Records — American music soundtrack label
 * Virgin Racing — Formula One motor racing team
 * Virginware — clothing retailer
 * Virgin Wines — online wine market, sold to Direct Wines in 2005