{"id":66268,"date":"2016-04-19T12:03:46","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T16:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/?p=66268"},"modified":"2020-04-28T18:57:06","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T22:57:06","slug":"15-times-billionaire-richard-branson-failed-at-business-04-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/15-times-billionaire-richard-branson-failed-at-business-04-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"15 times billionaire Richard Branson failed at business"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Billionaire Richard Branson<\/a> has started over 100 businesses since he was 16. Almost all of them were successful, but to date, at least 15 have failed. It’s not surprising that some of Brandon’s businesses failed. After all, the billionaire has always thought big and says that he lost count of the number of times he was told his ideas would fail.<\/p>\n

Branson was quoted as saying, “My mother taught me that I should not focus on past regrets, so with regards to business I don’t. My teams and I do not allow mistakes or failures to deter us. In fact, even when something goes wrong, we continue to search for new opportunities.”<\/p>\n

The entrepreneur added, “Businesses are like buses: there is always one after the other.” Check out these 15 times billionaire Richard Branson failed at business.<\/p>\n

#1 – Virgin Drinks<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Richard Branson’s unsuccessful stab at the drinks industry came in the form of Virgin Cola. The business was the billionaire’s most famous failure and also his favorite. While none of the Virgin Drinks launches were very successful, Virgin Cola was probably the worst. The drink was launched in 1994 and the bottle was inspired by Pamela Anderson’s curves. After it failed, Branson stated, “I’ll never make the mistake of thinking that big companies are sleeping again.”<\/p>\n

#2 – Virgin Brides<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Virgin Brides was launched in England in 1996 at several locations. Branson shaved his beard and wore a wedding dress for this launch. However, the billionaire’s venture into the wedding business was short lived and the store stopped taking orders December 2007. This failure showed that Branson’s brand simply wasn’t meant for the over competitive\u00a0market.<\/p>\n

#3 – Virgin Vie<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Virgin Vie launched as a cosmetics and toiletries company that sold products online, in Virgin stores, and at home parties. Stores closed after disappointing sales and Bramson turned to direct selling of the products, changing the name to Virgin Vie at Home. The brand became Vie at Home in 2009 after Virgin got out. The company paid millions in “Brand Protection” money to new management and paid off its loans at the same time.<\/p>\n

#4 -Virgin Clothing<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Virgin Clothing launched in 1998 as a line of men’s and women’s clothing. It also offered shoes and accessories aimed at the 18-to-35 crowd. The line was sold at U.K. retailers and department stores. Under Richard Branson’s direction, Virgin Clothing hired ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi to work on the line. Unfortunately, not even a stellar ad agency could help the Branson brand, which folded in 2000 with losses to shareholders.<\/p>\n

#5 – Student<\/h2>\n

\"Student\"<\/p>\n

In 1966, at the age of 16, Richard Branson dropped out of school to start a national magazine called “Student.” Branson explained that he didn’t like the way he was being taught at school, didn’t like what was going on in the world, and “wanted to put it right.” He decided that the best way to accomplish his goal was through a national magazine run by students for students.<\/p>\n

Branson’s first business venture didn’t pan out well, but it did give him a stepping stone to launch his record mail-order business. That business became so popular that Branson ditched “Student” for his very own record shop: Virgin.<\/p>\n

#6 – VirginStudent<\/h2>\n

\"VirginStudent\"<\/p>\n

VirginStudent was the Facebook the world wasn’t quite ready for. The website launched as a community site\u00a0in 2000. While it wasn’t called a social networking site, archived photos of the venture show profiles, photo albums, friending, messaging, and more. The site even had hundreds of thousands of members. Unfortunately, the site shot down in 2005 after a string of technical breakdowns. MySpace launched and rose to power that same year.<\/p>\n

#7 – Virgin Cars<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Richard Branson launched Virgin Cars in May 2000 as an internet automobile retailer. The entrepreneur predicted he would sell 24,000 cars through the company in its first year. However, the company had only sold 2,000 cars by October 2000 and sold a measly 12,000 cars by 2003. The failed online car retailer closed its proverbial doors in 2005.<\/p>\n

#8 – Virgin Flowers<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

According to Business Insider<\/a>, Virgin Flowers existed at some point, though there’s no record of when the supposed company was launched. There are certainly a few articles online that support the company’s existence, but Virgin either shut it down or sold it since then. Virgin Flowers doesn’t exist anywhere on the list of companies on the Virgin Group website.<\/p>\n

#9 – Virgin Megastore<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Virgin Megastore was probably in business too long, according to Richard Branson. The stores opened in 1992 and finally closed their doors in 2009, bowing out to the digital music market. Branson wrote in a blog post that he probably should have closed the stores sooner, but he didn’t want to lose the flagship stores’ presence in Times Square and on Oxford Street. The entrepreneur explained, “…the business was losing a lot of money. We did not make a speedy exit in part because I resisted in closing the business.” But in the end, Branson decided to cut his losses<\/a> and “focus our attention on markets where we could be the disruptor, not the disrupted.”<\/p>\n

#10 – Virginware<\/h2>\n

\"Virginware\"<\/p>\n

Despite his lack of success in the clothing and wedding businesses, Branson decided to try his hand at lingerie. The lingerie brand started well, starting from selling online in 2003 to opening 30 stores the next year. However, business\u00a0took a turn for the worse in 2005 and the retailer had a clearance sale of over 25,000 lingerie pieces before closing its doors for good.<\/p>\n

#11 – Virgin Express<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Virgin Express, a Brussels-based discount airline, launched in 1996 with the goal of rivaling EasyJet. Unfortunately for Branson, the airline lost money and closed in 2006. It now flies as Brussels Airline.<\/p>\n

#12 – Virgin Charter<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Not one to pass on an opportunity, Branson decided to try a different tactic in the airline market, starting Virgin Charter in 2007. The company’s purpose was to sell “empty leg” flights, or flights that are available when a private jet returns to hits home airport after delivering clientele to their destination. But the recession left a negative mark on the private jet industry and Virgin Charter stopped flights in 2009.<\/p>\n

#13 – Virgin Pulse<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Virgin Pulse was Richard Branson’s attempt to outwit Apple and its iPod. Unfortunately, the project didn’t pan out. Branson admitted himself that the technology was already out-of-date by the time it was launched.<\/p>\n

#14 – Virgin Digital<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Virgin Digital went along with Pulse the way the iPod syncs with iTunes. The companies were founded together in 2004, but they folded one year later. To his credit, Branson admitted his mistake and focused on his many other business ventures.<\/p>\n

#15 – Virgin America<\/h2>\n

\"Virgin<\/p>\n

Most recently, Richard Branson was forced to sell Virgin America. The airline accepted a takeover bid by Alaska Airlines earlier this month<\/a>. While he sounds like he won’t put up a fight against the sale, the billionaire admitted he was sad to see the airline go. Virgin America began flights in 2007.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Billionaire Richard Branson has started over 100 businesses since he was 16. Almost all of them were successful, but to date, at least 15 have failed. It’s not surprising that some of Brandon’s businesses failed. After all, the billionaire has always thought big and says that he lost count of the number of times he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":66279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1762,9041,10808,10807,10478,10477],"class_list":{"0":"post-66268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-failed-business","9":"tag-richard-branson","10":"tag-richard-branson-business","11":"tag-richard-branson-failure","12":"tag-virgin-america","13":"tag-virgin-group"},"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66268"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71397,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66268\/revisions\/71397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}