Richard Branson’s Unsuccessful Ventures Missing From His Documentary

Chris Smith’s four-part documentary series Branson takes a look at the life of eccentric billionaire Richard Branson and his various successful and unsuccessful business ventures. Although Branson has largely been a prosperous businessman, making several billion dollars over the years, he has also had his failures, like anyone else. This was bound to happen naturally given how many companies he has launched over the decades. Branson is currently attached to over 40 companies, and they each, in turn, have several smaller subsidiaries.

Branson’s most successful venture so far has been a result of various services offered by his Virgin Group umbrella of companies. Virgin has been most lucrative in the travel industry, with its Virgin Atlantic airline contributing to a large portion of Branson’s net worth. In addition to this, he is also in charge of Virgin Galactic, a spaceflight company that is competing with SpaceX and Blue Origin. Of course, there are dozens of other lesser-known ventures undertaken by Branson’s Virgin Group that have not turned out so well.

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Virgin Cola Was Branson’s Most Publicly Known Failure

Richard Branson’s most publicly known business disaster was his line of soda products, Virgin Cola. As mentioned in episode 3 of the HBO Max documentary series Branson, Virgin Cola debuted in 1994 and was intended to compete with the likes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The drinks were served on Virgin Atlantic flights and sold at supermarkets. Although Virgin Cola was initially successful and even appeared to overtake Coca-Cola in popularity in the UK, the brand would eventually fail. Coca-Cola took notice of Branson’s product and soon pressured retailers to stop stocking it or else they would cease distribution to these stores. This eventually led to Virgin Cola collapsing in 2009.

Virgin Vodka Failed Despite The Success Of Virgin Wine

Although Virgin Cola was Richard Branson’s most widely known business folly, it was not his only failure relating to the beverage industry. Virgin Vodka was a line of liquor released by the danger-seeking billionaire‘s company in 1994. Like Virgin Cola, the vodka line was also a disappointment, eventually being discontinued several years later due to a lack of sales. Conversely, however, Virgin’s line of wines found remarkable success. Virgin Wines came about in 2000 and made the Virgin Group a fair amount of money. It was later bought out by the Direct Wines company in 2005 for a substantial sum of money and continues to be sold to this day (via Decanter).

Branson’s Ventures Into The Clothing Industry Have Turned Out Unsuccessful

One of Richard Branson’s shortest-lived business ventures not mentioned in the documentary series Branson is Virgin Clothing. The brand entailed a line of apparel for both men and women and debuted in 1998. The world-record-setting Branson sought to have the brand established as a high-end fashion label that gave off a streetwear vibe. However, customers were not impressed with the products offered, and the price was deemed to be too high. As a result, the brand folded within a few years after failing to drum up demand.

This clothing-related failure would not deter Branson, however, as he next pivoted to a line of Virgin-branded lingerie. In 2003, he created Virginware, intending for the company to compete with Victoria’s Secret. Branson believed enough in this plan that he opened upwards of 30 stores within two years. By 2005, the brand collapsed, once again due to a lack of interest from potential customers (via Guardian).

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Besides trying to get into the clothing and lingerie business, multi-billionaire Richard Branson failed again when he attempted to launch a Virgin-branded line of bridal dresses. Virgin Brides premiered in 1996 with the opening of several shops around the UK. Branson even went as far as shaving his beard and wearing a dress to promote the company. These antics didn’t ensure the company’s success, however, with the brand going bankrupt within a decade. Branson later remarked that the name may have had something to do with the failure, stating, “I think because there aren’t many virgin brides, it never really took off” (via Vanity Fair).

Although Virgin Was Successful With Planes And Trains They Failed In Automobiles

The Virgin brand has been well known for its transportation companies, namely in the field of air and rail travel. Logically, one would assume the company would be set for success in the automotive industry. Virgin Cars were launched in 2000, and Richard Branson was very optimistic about its potential. He stated that the company would likely sell about 24,000 vehicles in its first year. This prediction ended up being very far off, with the company only selling 2,000 vehicles during that time. Three years after debuting, the company continued to struggle, with only 12,000 sales. Unsurprisingly, this led to collapse, with operations ceasing in 2005 (via Buisness Insider).

Virgin’s Attempts At Entering The Online Music Market Led To Several Failures

Although Virgin Mobile, Richard Branson’s cellular phone company, has seen remarkable success, his other ventures in similar areas of business fell flat on their face. Virgin Digital first appeared in 2005 and was intended to compete with Apple’s iTunes, offering a way for customers to download music. Similar to sites such as Spotify and SoundCloud, Virgin Digital also offered subscription services for music lovers. The business only lasted two years before shuttering, however, largely in part due to its inability to supersede iTunes in terms of popularity. Additionally, the Virgin Pulse, a music player similar to the iPod, also failed to catch on in popularity (via Hollywood Reporter).

Branson’s Most Recent Business Failure

Richard Branson’s most recent business venture that ended up failing was airline-related. As mentioned in the documentary series Branson, Virgin Atlantic is a successful company. However, its U.S. offshoot, Virgin America, did not fare as well. The brand was founded in 2007 and intended to be a low-cost carrier primarily servicing the West Coast. It operated this way for several years but was rendered defunct after it was bought out by regional powerhouse Alaska Airlines in 2018 (via CNBC).

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