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The Virgin Group is a group of separately run companies that each use Virgin brand of British celebrity business tycoon Sir Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle, although many others have been entered into. Although Branson retains complete ownership and control of the Virgin Brand, the commercial set up of companies using it is varied and complex. The group is sometimes perceived as a conglomerate, but this is not in fact the case. Each of the companies operating under the Virgin brand are separate entities, with some being wholly owned by Branson, while he holds 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 Radio (now part of SMG plc) and Virgin Music (now part of EMI). With a few exceptions, all of the companies began as wholly owned Virgin subsidiaries. To understand the Virgin structure, it is best to think of Sir Richard as a venture capitalist who unites all of his differing ventures under a single brand name.
Virgin Brands (under various ownership) See List of Richard Branson's business ventures See also | ||||||||
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