How Much Money Richard Branson Has Made (So Far) – Screen Rant
Although Richard Branson came from humble beginnings, as documented in his HBO series, he has been able to amass a net worth in the billions.
Branson, HBO’s newest biographical documentary, takes a close look at the life of billionaire business magnate Richard Branson, but what is his actual net worth? Branson built an empire around his company Virgin, with ventures in everything from rock bands to soda to space travel. These ventures have been both successful and unsuccessful, although Branson’s net worth has continually remained among the highest in the world.
As of 2022, Richard Branson’s net worth is currently estimated to hover around $3.9 billion dollars. This is down from the $5.7 billion net worth assigned to him by Forbes in 2021. The vast majority of Branson’s wealth comes from capital produced by the Virgin group he founded, which has more than 40 companies, such as Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Galactic (a spaceflight company rivaling SpaceX and Blue Origin). Additionally, Branson has also increased his net worth with successful stock investments in companies such as Twitter and Pinterest.
Richard Branson came from relatively humble beginnings initially, the son of a barrister and a ballet dancer; he spent most of his early years in Blackheath, London. He later attended school in Surrey and Sussex. From a young age, Branson dealt with dyslexia as well as ADHD. During an interview in his later years, he recalled an instance where his headmaster pulled him aside one day and told him he would either end up in prison or end up as a millionaire (via Meydanfz). Despite his childhood struggles, Branson was a business-minded individual. Part of this can be chalked up to the fact his mother was an entrepreneur in addition to being a ballerina. One of her most successful ventures was a business that sold wooden tissue boxes and trashcans.
Branson took up similar entrepreneurial ventures after leaving school, founding his first business at age 16 and dropping out to pursue it full-time (via Investopedia). This business was a magazine called The Student, which in two years allowed Branson's net worth to grow to upwards of $50,000. The money netted from this venture was later used to jumpstart the Virgin business group, which would branch out into a variety of other industries over the years.
Although the Virgin conglomerate owns dozens of companies, Richard Branson's direct attention has been focused on a handful of projects. Currently, Branson's spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic, has been his main focus in recent years. The company was initially founded in 2004 but has ramped up its efforts to compete with other industry space giants.
In June 2021, Branson made his mark in history by being the first spaceflight company founder to ride their own spacecraft into orbit, traveling on the VSS Unity into the sub-orbital levels of space. Since then, Branson has recently attempted to open Virgin Galactic's ventures to the public, opening ticket sales for spaceflights to the public in February 2022. Ticket prices come in at approximately $450,000 apiece. However, over 700 tickets have still been sold (via USA Today). The figure in focus of the Branson docuseries has stated that he hopes Virgin Galactic can carry out at least three commercial spaceflight launches per month starting in 2023.
