Richard Branson is an English business magnate, investor and philanthropist.
He founded the Virgin Group, which controls more than 400 companies.
Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age.
At the age of sixteen his first business venture was a magazine called Student.
In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores.
Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he set up Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label.
In March 2000, Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for "services to entrepreneurship".
For his work in retail, music and transport (with interests in land, air, sea and space travel), his taste for adventure, and for his humanitarian work, he became one of the most prominent figures in British culture.
In 2002 he was named in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.[10] In January 2016, Forbes listed Branson's estimated net worth at $5.2 billion.
"My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them ... from the perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it."
Branson is known for his preference of casual clothing both at home and the workplace.
Branson has stated in a number of interviews that he has been much influenced by Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, explaining that Mandela was "one of the most inspiring men
I have ever met and had the honour to call my friend." Owing to his interest in humanitarian and ecological issues,
Branson also lists Al Gore's best-selling book, An Inconvenient Truth, and The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock amongst his favourites.
According to Branson's book, Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons in Life, he is also a fan of Jung Chang's Wild Swans and Antony Beevor's Stalingrad.
