Richard Branson does not own Virgin Media.

[Branson 1]

I have not copied chunks out of wikipedia i have mearly pointed out facts that people are underestimating why do people seem to think that he does not own Virgin ? beats me because it certainly isn't anyone else.

[Jon T]

Originally Posted by Branson 1

I have not copied chunks out of wikipedia i have mearly pointed out facts that people are underestimating why do people seem to think that he does not own Virgin ? beats me because it certainly isn't anyone else.

Post #25 by Broadbandings, based on data from the stock exchange, company registration bodies, etc.

...and we are talking about Virgin Media(used to be NTL:Telewest), not the Virgin name.

I can beat your uncle in an arm wrestle!

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Branson 1

HaHa you all make me laugh.

I am a relative to Richard Charles Nicholas Branson he was born back in 1950 on the 18th of July.

As an English industrialist, best known for his Virgin Brand of over 360 companies. My Uncle Richards first successful business venture was at age 16, when he published a magazine called Student.He then set up an audio record mail-order business in 1970. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores and rebranded after a management buyout as Zavvi in late 2007.

Now you may be thinking ha yeah Zavvi bought Virgin...NOPE Zavvi was in talks with Richard and they both agreed that Richard would still own Virgin Records [It's former name] and they would change the name to Zavvi as this newly started company was going bust very quickly and they needed some profit.That way the ever so gullable public now think Virgin Records does not exist ..not by name but Richard Still owns it and Zavvi Manages it hence i mentioned above that it was a management buyout!!.

Anyway

With my uncle's flamboyant and competitive style, Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s—as he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label.

He still owns and runs Virgin but he does all of this behind closed doors and what ever information regarding any other company owning virgin and/or buying virgin is not true.

NTL/TELEWEST do not own virgin they use the virgin media brand and logo name and pay my uncle for using the brand and logo name.

LOL. You come across as one of those Nigerian scam e-mails some of us receive from time to time!. Should I send the cheque to you or Uncle Richard?

[NoKnowledge]

Areet Branson-son

[joglynne]

Originally Posted by Branson 1

I have not copied chunks out of wikipedia i have mearly pointed out facts that people are underestimating why do people seem to think that he does not own Virgin ? beats me because it certainly isn't anyone else.

Welcome to the forum Branson 1.

You seem to be under the impression that we do not know the history of your uncle and Virgin Media. I can assure you that most of our members do.

My apologies if I am wrong but it would appear that you are Christopher James Friggieri and have posted this before.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...8134717AATaYyQ

and you also published this information almost word for word here :-

http://www.freebase.com/view/en/richard_branson

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Richard_Branson

[Sephiroth]

This is an extract from the Virgin Media 2008 Annual Report (under the RISKS section):

"We are licensed to use the Virgin name and logo but do not own it. In February 2007, we rebranded certain areas of our business as Virgin Media and renamed our corporate parent Virgin Media Inc. under a 30-year license agreement with Virgin Enterprises Limited
to use the Virgin name and logo. The use of the Virgin Media name and brand carries various risks, including the following:

• we will be substantially reliant on the general goodwill of consumers towards the Virgin brand. Consequently, adverse publicity in relation to the Virgin Group or its principals, particularly Sir Richard Branson, who is closely associated with the brand, or in relation to another Virgin name licensee, could have a material adverse effect on our business;
28

• the license agreement has a 30-year term, and we are obligated to pay a termination payment if the license is terminated early under certain circumstances; and

• we are required to meet certain customer service level requirements. These service level requirements, which are grouped into three key categories, include:
(i) Base Service Levels which, in addition to ensuring that employees are fully-trained, competent, courteous and respectful, set basic standards against which to measure complaint handling, complaint levels and call center performance;

(ii) Technical Service Levels which measure certain technical requirements that affect our customers’ experience, such as service availability and service response times; and

(iii) Aspirational Service Levels, which are levels of service that we and Virgin Group wish to achieve over time, to create new service measures and increase the demands on certain existing measures, covering a range of matters including customer satisfaction, customer advocacy, complaint levels, call center performance and staff satisfaction. A failure to meet our obligations under the license agreement could lead to a termination of the license. If we lose the right to use the Virgin brand, we would need to rebrand those areas of our business that have been rebranded, which could result in increased expenditures and increased customer churn."

So now you have an attack plan for bad service.

[Branson 1]

I have obviously misunderstood the thread and i apologise but i am not any of the people named above i live in the UK and my name is Paul James Branson

when i was surfing the internet i saw a title that said Richard Branson does not own Virgin Media...i was mearly defending my uncle's position as the owner of Virgin Media because as i saw the title say what i have just mentioned i had to see why people did not think he owned/created Virgin.

On the Virgin Media Investors ownership page (link), there is no mention of Richard Branson.

The last mention I can find of him and Virgin Media shares is in the Guardian in May 2009, where he/his holding companies reduced their shareholding to 6.5% (the deal was actually done in 2007 as part of a hedging deal).

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Branson 1

I have obviously misunderstood the thread and i apologise but i am not any of the people named above i live in the UK and my name is Paul James Branson

when i was surfing the internet i saw a title that said Richard Branson does not own Virgin Media...i was mearly defending my uncle's position as the owner of Virgin Media because as i saw the title say what i have just mentioned i had to see why people did not think he owned/created Virgin.

Uncle Richard might have created Virgin but he did not create NTL nor Telewest, now rebranded Virgin Media.

I posted the Risk Register entry a few posts back; basically if VM are sufficiently discredited so that Uncle Richard gets p*ssed off, the they would have to rebrand again.

Clearly NTL/Telewest had little confidence in the standing of their own name.

To misquote Shakespeare: "A rose by any other name still smells the same"! What did poor old Uncle Richard get his brand name into?

[BarFly]

I seem to remember Branson is paid something like 1% of profit, or 10million pound which ever is greater for the duration of the contract for the use of the Virgin name, though i did believe it was for only 10 years

[watzizname]

Personally i don't see why it should be assumed that the majority of everyday folk would be as clued up as certain members of this board.

After all, NTL / Telewest were kind of counting on people not being that well informed, why else would they stump up so much cash to use the Virgin brand in the first place?

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Chris

Added, and voted on.

A year later and you decide to add an option?

---------- Post added at 21:31 ---------- Previous post was at 21:28 ----------

Originally Posted by xocemp

I can beat your uncle in an arm wrestle!

Some people say that Richard's got a strong right arm.

[injuneer]

The last mention I saw about his shares in VM was this in May

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/10...l#post34797590

[Sir John Luke]

Still 6.5% according to this

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/r...007260.article