Branson, and NTL, what a clever man!

rossyl

rossyl

rossyl

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Not sure if this is old news but...

You may have thought NTL took over Telewest and then took over Virgin Mobile to become a large media company oferring 4 services.

But you'd be wrong.

When NTL took over Virgin Mobile Branson ensured the name was kept in order to do what he has done now which is to effectively take over NTl by re-branding the whole company (NTL, Telewest, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Net) Virgin Media.

He has now added to the huge global brand that is "Virgin" planes, trains, food, music, and now home media.

To think he started off selling the University magazine. Anyone who even tries to compare Donald trump to him is a fool. Trump is a property god, but thats it. His TV show is also a massive success but the idea was not his. Trump cannot even make his casino's work whereas Branson plans on sending people to Mars!
 
At least with Branson there are no shareholders, so he effectively gets all the profit, and when he makes pledges to invest it all in 'green' technology, he gets my vote. I'd rather he got my money than some banker.
 
Samtheman1k said:
At least with Branson there are no shareholders, so he effectively gets all the profit, and when he makes pledges to invest it all in 'green' technology, he gets my vote. I'd rather he got my money than some banker.
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His promise to invest it all in green technology is no more than a publicity stunt. Any company in that sort of sector would realise that they have to put a huge percentage of their profits into green research anyway to stand a chance in the near future - he just made it seem like he was being philanthropic.

But anyway, very clever man, yes.
 
leaskovski said:
What is the reason for him and the Virgin name anyway? Does anyone know the storey behind that at all? :confused:
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I read it was the name of his first venture, the record label, and chose it because he was a business 'virgin'.
 
Tru said:
I read it was the name of his first venture, the record label, and chose it because he was a business 'virgin'.
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By that logic he should rename his company to '**** media' or 'Been around the block a few times but still gets the job done media'
:D
 
Or, Tired Old Pro Whose Had More Meat Than A Butchers Window But Still Turns Tricks For Crack Money Media. :p
 
Tru said:
I read it was the name of his first venture, the record label, and chose it because he was a business 'virgin'.
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His first signing to the record label was Mike Oldfield and Tubular Bells is still selling. IIRC he started his business with a £5k 'bank' loan, as this was at least 5x the average wage at the time and had never had a job since leaving school, I think rich daddy had more to do with giving him the money
 
Samtheman1k said:
His parents weren't rich. He opened a record shop first (after setting up a student magazine) and from there set up a record label. He is completely self made.
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Did he get a gov grant then to go to stowe school? :confused: Not exactly a cheep place to go to school thats for sure!
 
rossyl said:
To think he started off selling the University magazine. Anyone who even tries to compare Donald trump to him is a fool. Trump is a property god, but thats it. His TV show is also a massive success but the idea was not his. Trump cannot even make his casino's work whereas Branson plans on sending people to Mars!
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Tbh fella both are excellent business men who have done exceedingly well in their chosen fields...so saying anyone comparing Trump to Branson is a fool is kinda stupid dont ya think??. Like i said earlier on, they both have different fields in which they have done well. Im sure if Trump wanted to get into home media he would do well but i guess he wont because just maybe it doesnt appeal to him. And im sure Branson has no interest in property as it doesnt appeal to him either.


Anyway well done to Branson, hes a very clever guy and likeable.
 
Spawn said:
Tbh fella both are excellent business men who have done exceedingly well in their chosen fields...so saying anyone comparing Trump to Branson is a fool is kinda stupid dont ya think??. Like i said earlier on, they both have different fields in which they have done well. Im sure if Trump wanted to get into home media he would do well but i guess he wont because just maybe it doesnt appeal to him. And im sure Branson has no interest in property as it doesnt appeal to him either.


Anyway well done to Branson, hes a very clever guy and likeable.
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Not at all.

My point was...

Trump has tried to venture into different fields and has failed in nearly all. His casino's for example have gone into administration numerous times. Trump is an amazing property master, however, that is basically it. You cannot say he is a leader in any other field. Whereas Branson has had such a varied business career and is a true entrepreneur. The business decisions he has made along the way have been amazing, and this NTL one is sublime. When you consider the industries Branson is involved in and has done well in it is pretty amazing. The fields are so very very diverse. In that sense the pure breadth of his achievements far outweigh Trumps.

You cannot therefore even say what is Branson's chosen field. That tbh honest is stupid, as the aircraft industry and records labels hardly fall into the same field.

That was my point.
 
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I thought the scam about investing in Green energy was genius. Plenty of people have bought that hook line and sinker. I guess they all forgot about him wanting to build more Oil refineries in the U.S. LOL. Usually anyone with a bit of wealth is dispised by the general public. Now he is a Saint apparently.
 
Yeah I got the Virgin Media pack in the post this morning. Really presented well and really convincing.

Shame I migrated my Virgin.net ISP last week. Appalling speeds (0.5MB) during peak times and I'm supposed to have a 8MB connection. I know my line can do at least 6MB and I'm less than 1/2 mile from my exchange. I havn't been able to play online games properly for 2-3 months.

My new ISP has a one month contract, and this Virgin Media service launches next month. If it goes well, I might consider moving back.
 
Even if he did come from a rich family it doesn't diminish his achievement. So what if his dad financed his first venture? Fact is everyone gets a leg-up from somewhere, they just don't talk about it to improve their media image. I know that if my family were rich enough that I could afford to never do an honest day's work I'd probably sit around and be a drone for the rest of my life, so more power to him for achieving something despite not having a financial imperative egging him on! :D
 
Hopefully he will improve the NTL TV service. I just hope the broadband stays the same.
 
Phæte said:
Yeah I got the Virgin Media pack in the post this morning. Really presented well and really convincing.
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yeah im with you, i was impressed by package too. i've had ntl bb for years, but the rest of their service was totally rubbish so i got rid. if they can offer something decent, reliable and properly serviced then they might keep me!

nin9a
 
I've just been reading about SRB and the Virgin Group. They have their fingers in amost every industrial pot. Although half of them I've never heard of.

Quite amazing really.

Burnsy
 
Phæte said:
Yeah I got the Virgin Media pack in the post this morning. Really presented well and really convincing.

Shame I migrated my Virgin.net ISP last week. Appalling speeds (0.5MB) during peak times and I'm supposed to have a 8MB connection. I know my line can do at least 6MB and I'm less than 1/2 mile from my exchange. I havn't been able to play online games properly for 2-3 months.

My new ISP has a one month contract, and this Virgin Media service launches next month. If it goes well, I might consider moving back.
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I got the media pack and then I read the terms and conditions. One of them read "We will inform the emergancy services of your name and address to be kept on file" or something like that. Im not sure what that is supposed to mean or what that is for but I dont like the sound of it.
 
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