pWotD Episode 3129: Richard Branson Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today. With 160,194 views on Tuesday, 25 November 2025 our article of the day is Richard Branson. Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and, as of 2016, controlled five companies. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine called Student. In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. He opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records—later known as Virgin Megastores—in 1972. His Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he started the Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label. In 1997 he founded the Virgin Rail Group to bid for passenger rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. The Virgin Trains brand operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 1997 to 2019, the InterCity CrossCountry franchise from 1997 to 2007 and the InterCity East Coast franchise from 2015 to 2018. In 2004, he founded the space tourism company Virgin Galactic, based at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, United States, noted for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane. In March 2000, Branson was knighted for "services to entrepreneurship". Due to his work in retail, music and transport, his taste for adventure and for his humanitarian work, he has become a prominent global figure. In 2007 he was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine. In June 2023, Forbes magazine listed Branson's estimated net worth at US$3 billion. On 11 July 2021, Branson travelled as a passenger on board Virgin Galactic Unity 22 at the edge of space, a suborbital test flight for Virgin Galactic. The mission lasted approximately one hour, reaching a peak altitude of 53.5 miles (86.1 km). At 70 he became the third-oldest person to fly to space. This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:41 UTC on Wednesday, 26 November 2025. For the full current version of the article, see Richard Branson on Wikipedia . This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes. Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com . Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner , a current events podcast. Until next time, I'm generative Ruth.
