Virgin's Pursuit: Sir Richard Branson's Dilemmas in Creating a Presence in Retail Financial Services

In the forty years to 2010, Virgin Group's Sir Richard Branson (b. 1950) turned from a 'high school dropout' to a billionaire and global legend. The creation of over 300 business interests in parts as far afield as the UK, South Africa, Australia and the USA resulted from a unique management style. Branson and the Virgin brand often associate with music (such as records and music stores) and travel (airlines, trains and booked holidays) but between August 2007 and February 2008 they were involved in a failed takeover of Northern Rock, a collapsed British bank. However, as this case study will detail, Virgin Group was keen on entering the finance industry. The Northern Rock affair was one of a long series of steps dating to the 1980s through which Branson and Virgin have been developing capabilities to enter the British retail banking sector.