Richard Branson, the 48-year- old chairman of the London-based Virgin Group, has parlayed a lifelong disdain for conventional business wisdom into a $3.5 billion international conglomerate and one of the world's most powerful and recognizable brands. Under the ubiquitous Virgin banner, Mr. Branson has ventured into a panoply of businesses - from condoms to wedding gowns, from airlines to financial services - and in the process has taken on entrenched giants and wrested market share from them.

What's interesting about Branson's empire is that his highest paid person is Will Whitehorn, his public relations and communications director. "...If a negative story starts running away with itself in the press and is not dealt with fast, it can badly damage the brand. And so we put enormous weight on our public relations people."

[via Booz Allen & Hamilton's Strategy & Business]

I read in Forbes magazine that Richard Branson plans to launch a low-cost airline in the US. Here in Hawaii we have two airlines, Aloha and Hawaiian on which we are completely dependent for inter island travel.They have consistently raised their prices and have no competition to speak of. At this moment the inter island fare is $110 for a 20 minute flight. Obviously I have no idea if it would be worthwhile to start service with smaller planes