Richard Branson concedes he lost billions of dollars over the past three years

He’s hardly penniless, but the British founder of all things Virgin has admitted to eye-watering personal losses as his latest venture goes belly up.

Try not to feel too sorry for a bloke swimming in cash and who owns his own private island – but one of the world’s most well-known entrepreneurs has revealed just how much money he has lost over the last three years.

An eye-watering figure close to $3 billion.

British businessman Sir Richard Branson, the man behind all things Virgin branded, told the BBC of his financial tale of woe as one of his most recent ventures came to an embarrassing end.

His rocket launching venture Virgin Orbit, which had hoped to become a space technology giant, is closing down months after a mission failure.

Virgin Orbit was set up to launch satellites into space. At its height, it was worth $5.6 billion. It floated on the NASDAQ exchange in January 2022.

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit company will close down. Picture: Supplied.

The US based firm used airports in the US and UK to send satellites into space in a complex operation from the belly of a converted Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 called Cosmic Girl.

But in January, a launch from an airfield in Cornwall, in England’s south west, went badly wrong. While the rocket exited the plane as planned, the satellites within could not be launched and were destroyed with the rocket.

It was a crushing blow for Virgin Orbit.

In March, the company laid of almost all its 750 staff and attempted to find a buyer.

When a buyer couldn’t be found, it began selling off its assets including the US headquarters, hi- tech equipment and the Cosmic Girl aeroplane.

The closure is a big blow to Richard Branson.

The fire sale raised just $55m, a fraction of the firm’s former worth. Although Virgin Orbit has said it has further inventory to hock.

In a statement, Virgin Orbit, which was publicly listed in the US, said it was now shutting down for good.

“Virgin Orbit’s legacy in the space industry will forever be remembered. Its groundbreaking technologies, relentless pursuit of excellence, and unwavering commitment to advancing the frontiers of air launch have left an indelible mark on the industry.”

The company said it would pay redundancy for all staff.

Virgin Orbit was majority owned by Richard Branson.

While Mr Branson’s business acumen led to a string of successful Virgin businesses which made him a billionaire with his own private Caribbean island as a bolthole, he’s had his fair share of financial failures over the years too.

Virgin Cola was not an ongoing success.

Lost almost $3 billion

In comments from earlier this month, Mr Branson said he personally lost 1.5 billion pounds ($2.84 billion) during the pandemic, chiefly due to his airline Virgin Atlantic which he owns half of.

“We had 50, 60 planes all on the ground, and the health clubs all closed, the hotels all closed. And the worst case would have been 60,000 people out on the streets,” he told the BBC.

The UK government turned down a request from Mr Branson to underwrite Virgin Atlantic’s loans by almost $1 billion during the Covid-19 downturn in travel. It was a request that left some British taxpayers with a bad taste considering Mr Branson’s immense wealth.

His Virgin Group ended up putting $379m into the airline while $1.89bn was raised from investors.

“There was a time when I thought we were going to lose everything,” he told the BBC.

“We sold shares in companies that were public and that was one way we managed to find money.”

In 2018, his net worth was estimated to be around $7.7bn by Forbes magazine. It has since sunk.

But despite his losses, Mr Branson is hardly now a pauper. His net worth is estimated to stand at $5.2bn. Which buys a lot of business class air tickets on Virgin Atlantic.

Virgin Atlantic is one of Richard Branson’s main ventures.. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

While Mr Branson’s business acumen led to a string of successful Virgin businesses which made him a billionaire with his own private Caribbean island as a bolthole, he’s had his fair share of financial failures over the years too.

These have included his Virgin Cola, which was designed to rival Coca-Cola, a Nigerian airline and an online car retailer.

His Virgin Group is the majority owner of Virgin Atlantic airlines and Virgin Hotels, has stakes in Virgin branded health clubs, cruise ships and banks and licences the name to other companies.

It also owns 5 per cent of Virgin Australia.

Just last month, Virgin Group said it would provide almost $50m to Virgin Orbit to help it in an attempt to find a buyer.

Virgin Orbit’s sister firm Virgin Galactic, a space tourism company, remains in business.