1972, he set up a recording studio in Oxfordshire. The following year, the first virgin artist, Mike Offield, recorded the album GUANLING, which was released at 1973. The sales record of the first album exceeded 5 million copies. Over the years, many albums have become household names, making Virgin one of the six major record companies in the world. 1992, the equity of Virgin Music Group (record company, music distribution and recording studio) was sold to EMI for 10 billion dollars.
1984 Richard Bronson, who has made considerable achievements in the record entertainment industry and chain retail industry, introduced the successful experience and value orientation of Virgin in the entertainment industry into the air transport industry, and started a new entrepreneurial journey of Virgin with the help of rented passenger planes and the concept of "making all passengers in the cabin spend the least money and enjoy the most distinguished service". After many directors' disapproval and only three months of preparation, the first Virgin Atlantic flight finally took off from London, marking Virgin Atlantic's all-round attack on the aviation industry. After years of development, Virgin Atlantic has become the second largest long-haul international airline in Britain. Virgin Atlantic has won almost all the important tourism awards.
Since then, Virgin's diversification process has been out of control. 1995, Virgin Direct launched financial services. The cost of this telephone service is much lower than that of traditional financial companies. 1996, Virgin Group launched Virgin Express, a short-haul airline headquartered in Belgium, which provides low-cost air tickets to and from Europe. 1999, Virgin once again entered the telecommunications field and launched Virgin mobile phones. In 2000, Virgin Blue's low-cost airline was established in Australia. In 200 1 year, Virgin AG's total sales amounted to nearly 4 billion pounds.
At present, Virgin Group has become an international company with more than 65,438+000 branches worldwide, covering 23 countries and regions around the world. Virgin has become a world-famous brand, and its products and services cover records, entertainment, aviation, railways, drinks, alcohol, telecommunications, finance, network, communication equipment and retail.
From 1985, Richard took part in a series of activities to break the world record. 1986, his seaplane "Virgin Challenger 2" rekindled B 1ue Riband's enthusiasm for crossing the Atlantic Ocean, which was the fastest trip ever. A year later, the hot air balloon "Virgin Voyager" flew across the Atlantic Ocean, which was the first time in the history of balloon flight. The gas capacity was also the largest (reaching 2.3 million cubic feet), and the flight speed exceeded 1.30 mph. 199 1 year 1 month, he set out from Japan and crossed the Pacific Ocean to northern Canada, with a speed of 245 miles per hour, breaking all existing records.
During 1995 and 1998, he sailed around the world several times with Per Rindstrand and Steve Fossett in a hot air balloon. It was not until the evening of 1998 that they broke the sailing record from Morocco to Hawaii. However, due to the bad weather and the beginning of 1999, a Swiss team successfully traveled around the world, which shattered their dreams.
1999, Sir Richard Bronson was awarded the title of new york Honorary List in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the enterprise.
At present, Richard lives in London and Oxford. He married Joan and had two children, one named Harry and the other named Sam.