There's a hushed silence and 750 eager faces turn to watch a bronzed man walk to the podium, his golden hair swaying behind him and his face split by a dazzling smile. There is no white smoke or drum roll, but for the students and alumni of one of the world's leading business schools, Sir Richard Branson is as close as it gets to a rock star.
Worth ?3 billion (US$5.5 billion) and believed to be the ninth-richest man in Britain, the 55-year-old founder of the Virgin empire inspired a generation of entrepreneurs. With a hotline to the rich and famous and a lifestyle to lust after -- dream house in Oxford, London mansion, his own Caribbean island, for God's sake -- he has been top of the speaker wish-list at London Business School (LBS) for years. Only former US president Clinton sold out faster.
His aides describe him as akin to 19th-century businessmen adventurers. His empire of more than 250 companies covers everything from planes, trains and bridal gowns to space travel. He is involved in efforts to set up a team of peacemakers led by former South African president Nelson Mandela to solve the world's problems and tried to fly around the world in a balloon.
PHOTO: AFP
A few weeks ago, he pulled off his most lucrative deal when he sold Virgin Mobile, a virtual business chiefly valued for its brand association, to the cable group NTL for almost ?1 billion.
Yet in person, the quietly spoken Branson is at odds with this swashbuckling persona. While the former US president stirred the assembled wannabes at LBS by telling them that they would never forgive themselves if they "locked their dreams in the back of a closet," the casually dressed Branson tells them to worry about survival rather than "sorting out the world's problems" for the first few years. When pressed, he says: "If capitalism is to be given a good name, then essentially capitalists need to give back to society."
When his US TV program Rebel Billionaire performed poorly, Donald Trump sniped that his rival had "zero personality." A dyslexic who dropped out of school at 16 to run his own magazine, Branson rarely gives speeches and prefers question-and-answer sessions. The LBS event was the first of two on the day with a second in the grounds of his country home. At one point, he told his audience of entrepreneurs that he had had to school himself in public speaking when he started Virgin Atlantic 22 years ago. One executive whispered afterwards that "he must have dropped out of that one as well."
In a 90-minute car journey between the two events, Branson manages to talk about remarkable things in a remarkably low-key way.
He tells a story about being in the bath when he was called by "Madiba" (Nelson Mandela) wanting help to sort out a health club chain in South Africa. The investment ended up being one of his "best business decisions ... but it's nice to be able to mix it."
If Britain's best-known businessman is not known for eloquence, his actions speak for him. He calls the Virgin Mobile sale, which will see the formation of a combined group offering TV, telecoms, broadband and mobile under a Virgin umbrella, his most successful "in pure financial terms." Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of easyJet and a fan of Branson, said: "I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when the NTL board decided to call the company Virgin. It's the ultimate endorsement of a brand name, when people are willing to pay to use your name."
Few businessmen are so inextricably linked to the brand they promote as Branson.
"I used myself to put Virgin on the map," he admits. "Virgin has become a way of life."
In public, Branson's humor veers toward the frat-boy, telling stories about his teenage son's need for condoms for example. It's hard to forget that he advertised an Australian venture by pretending to be fellated in a Jacuzzi.
Yet he is solicitous during the interview, which is constantly interrupted by his mobile phone while he waits for a call from his medical student daughter.
Branson will become the largest single shareholder in Virgin Entertainment, or whatever it ends up being called, with just over 10 percent, once the deal is finalized at the end of June. Virgin will get a fee worth 0.25 percent of consumer revenues for the next 30 years. This would have been worth ?9 million last year alone.
Branson, who admits to crying like a baby when he sold Virgin records in order to support Virgin Atlantic in his battle with British Airways, says the mobile sale has been "more satisfying as it isn't just selling out." There are risks, of course, such as the danger of associating with a company nicknamed NT-Hell. Branson contrasts these risks to those with taking over two of Britain's most run-down rail franchises in 1997.
"With NTL I don't think it's as big a challenge as that," he said.
He appears keen to set up a sports channel and says he "wouldn't be at all surprised if NTL is in there, bidding alongside Sky" in the auction for British Premiership football matches.
"I suspect we will (also) enrich a number of football, tennis and motor racing companies," he said.
He downplays his desire to take on BSkyB's chairman, Rupert Murdoch.
"You'd have to be mad to have a long-lived desire to take on Murdoch," he joked.
Taking on Sky does fit Branson's image of going up against Goliaths and upsetting the established order. Staring out of the car window and idly stroking his golden locks, he says: "I love a challenge. Sky is dominant. It is a really good company, but as I said earlier, being dominant is not necessarily good for anyone."
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