Sir Richard Branson was 19 years old when he and his childhood buddy Nik Powell cofounded what later became the international conglomerate known as Virgin Group. It was 1970, and the two teenagers picked the name “Virgin” for their mail-order record company as a cheeky nod to their inexperience in business.

Next came, in rapid succession, Virgin record stores, Virgin Megastore, and Virgin Games, all within the first dozen years. Then, boldly, an airline, Virgin Atlantic, in 1984. Today it services 5.6 million passengers yearly, generating $4.4 billion in revenue. Branson followed it up with the likes of gym chain Virgin Active, sports betting app Virgin BET, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Hotels and space tourism company Virgin Galactic. More than a handful of Branson’s ventures have failed or been sold off over the years, including Virgin Records, which he painfully let go of for $1 billion in 1992 to help keep Virgin Atlantic afloat. In all, today Branson oversees 40 Virgin companies, operating in 35 countries and employing more than 60,000 people.

Now age 75 and worth an estimated $2.8 billion, Branson recalls how his earliest investments—made when he was just a young teen in the English countryside—laid the foundation for all his success and still affect how he runs his sprawling empire today.

Forbes: Can........

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