conglomerate founded february 1970 ; 46 years ago 1970 02 founders richard branson nik powell headquarters london united kingdom area served global key people sir richard branson founder peter norris chairman 1 josh bayliss ceo 1 products banking books commercial aviation commercial spaceflight consumer electronics films health care internet jewelry mobile phones music radio retail travel revenue 19.5 billion 2016 1 number of employees approximately 71 000 website www.virgin.com virgin group ltd. is a british multinational branded venture capital conglomerate founded by entrepreneurs richard branson and nik powell . 2 its core business areas are travel entertainment and lifestyle and it also manages ventures in financial services transport healthcare food and drink media and telecommunications ; together virgin s businesses consist of more than 400 companies worldwide . virgin group s date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by companies house who class it as a holding company ; however virgin s business and trading activities date to the 1970s . the net worth of virgin group was estimated at 5 5.5 billion as of november 2014 . 3 contents 1 name virgin 2 corporate affairs 3 subsidiaries and investments 4 formerly owned ventures 5 references 6 external links name virgin edit the brand name virgin arose when richard branson and nik powell formed a record shop . they considered themselves virgins in business . 4 branson has described the v in the logo as an expressive tick representing the virgin seal of approval . 4 corporate affairs edit virgin group has its headquarters at the battleship building in the paddington district of the city of westminster . 5 previously it was in the school house in the london borough of hammersmith and fulham . 6 the virgin group of companies have a complex structure that contains elements of a generic conglomerate a keiretsu and sometimes simply licences its brand . examples of licensing are virgin records now owned by universal music group and virgin media now owned by liberty global . in mid may 2013 the virgin group expressed its intention to seek out opportunities in australia s healthcare industry to consolidate on the group s australian fitness centres . the group also owns over 100 national health service nhs services in the united kingdom and the healthcare division of medical services group assura after entering the british healthcare industry in 2011 . 7 subsidiaries and investments edit company ownership sector v festival 100 % entertainment virgin active 20 % health virgin america 25 % travel virgin atlantic 51 % travel virgin australia holdings 10 % virgin books 10 % publishing virgin care 100 % health virgin cruises 100 % travel virgin connect 100 % media virgin experience days 100 % entertainment virgin galactic 100 % aerospace virgin green fund 100 % energy virgin health bank 100 % health virgin healthmiles 100 % business services virgin holidays 100 % travel virgin hotels 100 % hospitality virgin limited edition 100 % limobike 100 % travel virgin megastores 100 % retail virgin mobile 100 % communications virgin money 34 % 8 banking virgin oceanic japan virgin racing formula e team 100 % entertainment virgin radio 100 % entertainment virgin rail group 51 % travel virgin sports 1 % sports virgin trains east coast 10 % travel virgin unite 100 % charity virgin vacations 100 % travel virgin voucher 100 % retail further information list of richard branson s business ventures formerly owned ventures edit absolute radio formerly virgin radio uk rebranded in 2008 air nigeria nigerian national airline launched as virgin nigeria shares sold in 2010 liquid comics comic book producer formerly known as virgin comics sold to management in 2008 vie at home cosmetics retailer formerly known as virgin vie sold to management in 2009 virgin brides retailer specialising in bridal wear virgin cars online car retailer ceased trading in 2005 virgin charter online marketplace of private aircraft seat bookings virgin cinemas sold to ugc in 1999 virgin digital help technical support virgin drinks drink manufacturer virgin cola carbonated cola soft drink virgin vodka alcoholic beverage v mix spirit mixers virgin electronics electronics retailer virgin energy joint venture energy provider sold to edf energy virgin express airline based in brussels merged with sn brussels airlines in 2006 to form brussels airlines v festival an australian version of the v festival virgin festival a north american version of the v festival virgin films film production company virgin games sold to gamesys in 2013 virgin interactive closed in 2003 virgin limousines a former limousine service that operated mostly in the usa and canada . it operated for 14 years until november 2010 . virgin media including virgin mobile uk uk cable tv broadband internet and fixed and mobile telephony provider bought by liberty global virgin mobile australia mobile phone service provider in australia shares sold to optus in 2006 virgin mobile canada mobile phone service provider in canada shares sold to bell mobility in 2009 virgin mobile france mobile phone service provider in france shares sold to numericable sfr in 2014 virgin mobile india mobile phone service provider in india shares sold to tata teleservices in 2015 virgin mobile usa mobile phone service provider in the usa shares sold to sprint corporation in 2009 virgin money australia sold to bank of queensland virgin money us sold in 2010 virgin one account shareholding sold to co owner rbs in 2003 virgin sun airlines scheduled and charter airline closed in 2001 virgin trains expresscoach former operator of inter city bus & coach services virgin crosscountry former operator of the cross country railway franchise in the united kingdom services transferred to arriva in 2007 51 % virgin emi records soundtrack label owned by universal music group virgin records american music soundtrack label virgin racing formula one motor racing team virginware clothing retailer virgin wines online wine market sold to direct wines in 2005 references edit a b c about us . virgin.com . retrieved 18 january 2015 . virgin group ltd. private company information . businessweek . retrieved 2008 12 24 . wisniewska aleksandra 2014 11 05 . timeline the virgin empire . financial times . a b richard branson . losing my virginity . isbn 1 8522 7684 3 . page needed our company information . virgin group . retrieved on 14 october 2013 . the battleship building 179 harrow road london w2 6nb our company information . virgin group . retrieved on 14 january 2009 . the school house 50 brook green london w6 7rr england damon kitney 20 may 2013 . virgin group eyes slice of australia s 65bn healthcare market . the australian . retrieved 20 may 2013 . armstrong ashley 13 november 2014 . virgin money float triggers 50m payment to george osborne s coffers . the telegraph . retrieved 19 may 2015 . external links edit official website virgin group on google business data for virgin group ltd. google finance hoover s london portal companies portal v t e virgin group assets lifestyle active balloon flights books care casino experience days games gaming health bank pure voucher electric racing wines travel america atlantic vacations virgin australia holdings australia regional virgin samoa tigerair australia cruises galactic holidays travel city direct hotels chicago limited edition natirar necker roof gardens ulusaba limobike oceanic trains west coast east coast music megastores records virgin emi v festival money green fund money uk money australia media connect media ireland mobile uk virgin mobile australia canada chile france india poland south africa usa produced radio uk france canada toronto montreal vancouver calgary edmonton winnipeg london on italy dubai turkey jordan thailand virgin hitz eazy fm lebanon former comics festival north america festival australia heaven ou fm racing f1 radio ottawa uk radio classic groove xtreme v2 records virgin.net defunct brides cars charter cinemas digital digital help drinks cola vodka electronics energy express films interactive limousines little red megastores uk media television money us nigeria northern rock radio free sun trains crosscountry trains expresscoach vie virginware people richard branson nik powell other losing my virginity timeline of richard branson s business ventures unite charity virgin earth challenge ds virgin racing category commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title virgin group & oldid 744465287 categories virgin groupairline holding companiesbritish brandsconglomerate companies of the united kingdomholding companies of the united kingdombritish companies established in 1970holding companies established in 1970hidden categories wikipedia articles needing page number citations from november 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages e tinadeutschespa ol fran ais bahasa indonesiaitaliano nederlands norsk bokm lpolskiportugu s simple englishsuomisvenska edit links this page was last modified on 15 october 2016 at 11 37 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view