Agreed - one of the first businesses he started was effectively a pyramid scheme (he wrote a newspaper in college to sell to other students in bulk, who would t

Agreed - one of the first businesses he started was effectively a pyramid scheme (he wrote a newspaper in college to sell to other students in bulk, who would then make money by selling the copies to individuals at a profit. Of course, the newspaper itself wasn't any good, and so it was hard to sell, which means that no-one but him made any money. I know of this story because one of my dad's college friends bought some of his newspapers, and predictably failed to sell any). Also, his first 'real' business was Virgin Records, which made it big off the back of Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells'. However, Branson made Oldfield sign an almost usurious contract (http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2008/03/03/tubular-bells/ http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2008/03/03/tubular-bells/), and didn't pay him any of the royalties on the recording for several years as he built up the company (until Oldfield, who considered Branson a personal friend, sued). A great business man he may be, but I don't think he's a genuinely nice guy.