A whip-round for Richard Branson?

Bransons Island is worthless.

Its an empirers new clothes situation where he charges through the nose for something not very special. It has no infastructure of its own.

Nobody in their right mind would buy it for any more than any other non self sufficient sand bar in that part of the world.

Marina Hyde telling Branson like it is

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/21/richard-branson-bailout

What can I add to what everyone has already said? All I can say is I absolutely loathe these fat cats who use and abuse the system to make and keep themselves rich. Frankly I think it’s unbelievable that this man has the brass neck to request that we, the tax payers, bail out his company. I’m afraid with people like this it’s me, me, me, and never mind anyone else. Perhaps RB could turn his attention to procuring and paying for some PPE for our medics out of his grotesquely large personal fortune.

Er, doesn't his island blow up or something similar, disappear every two years. Why does he want to borrow from the English tax-payer when he doesn't contribute any tax.
No chance Richard. By the way Richard, your planes pollute the air and contribute to global warming.

Sorry oops I’m with the Guardian on this today:

I wasn't really supporting him, Urmstongran

I was just thinking about all the staff.

There was an article saying that many airlines will be going out if business

He'll be fine if Virgin folds, but there's a lot of people relying on him for their livelihoods

What’s wrong with a whip round for him?I’ve got a whip So I’d start. Greedy beggar!

He successfully sued the NHS for a couple of million, ran a train network so badly it had to be rescued by government and market worth necker island is apparently worth £30million. Not a great asset to offset a £500million loan.
Feel sorry for staff. And don’t fancy British airways being a monopoly. Virgin Atlantic should have approached this not via him.

Of course he can but he'd rather sit in his tax haven and let someone else pay. Virgin Atlantic is mainly owned by AirFrance/KLM and Delta. Let him take his begging bowl to the French, Dutch and Americans.

Surely any ordinary person running their own business has to finance it themselves. They take the profits and they take the losses. Why is Branson any different? Can't he put his hand in his own pocket?

Marina Hyde is brilliant:

“Motorboating enthusiast Richard Branson is playing a particularly idiosyncratic game of Monopoly. He would like to mortgage his private Caribbean island. In return, you, the taxpayer, have to buy him Mayfair and Park Lane, all the greens, all the yellows, all the reds, and stick a hotel on every one of them. Also, if Richard lands on Super Tax or Income Tax he doesn’t pay them. And if he gets the Community Chest saying “pay hospital fees”, he refuses and sues the hospital. The only bright side is that he no longer operates out of any of the stations.”

Sorry oops I’m with the Guardian on this today:

“Richard Branson's bailout plea proves there's no one more shameless”
Marina Hyde

IIRC the woman who said, ‘Only little people pay taxes’ was an American, Lorna Helmsley?? - who later got into serious trouble with the US taxman over her tax dodging.

These people are so rich, because they never spend a penny of their own money, take risks with other people's, and despise us for letting them get away with it.
Only little people pay tax. (don't know who said it, but always remembered it.)

I just feel sorry for the 70000 employees who could be out of work if Virgin goes under.

This is the letter he's sent to employees.

www.virgin.com/richard-branson/open-letter-virgin-employees

It goes on a bit but shows that he's not just been sitting on his island, twiddling his thumbs whilst this has been going on

I'm no fan of the man at all.

But there's nothing stopping him from just throwing in the towel, thereby causing a massive loss of jobs and revenue.

Branson has good PR. He promotes the happy chappie face of an avuncular uncle.

I don’t like his other face.

Cheeky sod.

I really, really hope that when the dust settles on this global experience we can remember what was of actual importance to us in our time of need, and value those people (key workers) and things (decent food and medical supplies) in future.

What we seem to be managing without are vacuous celebrities leeching off us, and most of the ways we've been killing the planet. If we don't stampede back to those things, there'll be more of a future for everyone.

What he really cares about is his name. Had he sold VA then he would not be bothered.

As for his wealth, whether it was £4.7billion at some time that figure will be very much reduced in currect circumstances. Of course he does not have cash available, it is all investments. Then to realise some of those investments, if at all possible, he would have to do so at a considerable loss.

We can be sure that he has enough money to keep funding his personal lifetyle, but just like the vast majority of wealthy people his approach is to make more and more money from investments and is wholly committed to that. Pity he has not followed the advice of the Sage of Omaha who has shown all of us how to so it and the Branson way is not like that.

Warren Buffett is (and has done) keeping cash in the bank until he finds the investment that fulfils his investment model. He has made a few mistakes but those have been eclipsed by all the better ones. The man is a legend in his own lifetime.I'll bet all those high fliers are wishing they had followed his example.

Unfortunately our virgin flight to Florida for our Golden Wedding was cancelled. Still waiting for a refund. It’s the best part of £1000. Unhappy bunny.

The owner of Necker really has got some NECK.

This is the man whose company Virgin Care sued the NHS after it lost out on an £82million contract to provide children's health services in Surrey in 2016. The NHS had to pay out an "undisclosed sum" to VC - so I think he's already had plenty of tax payers money. Let Virgin Atlantic sink. There will be another airline along to take its place as soon as this crisis is over, and they will provide plenty of jobs.

He can pay up himself, I'm sick of the British government having to pay for people who can well afford to look after themselves

If all Branson requires for his Airline is a loan, then he can approach any of the large commercial banks.

I regard to his island, prior to him buying it and turning it into a luxury venue for the super-rich, it was an undeveloped magnificent habitat for wildlife.

His airline should be allowed to fall into administration if the commercial banks do not wish to grant loans to it. From there the British government could take it over as a going concern at a rock bottom price as a medium-term investment for the nation.

1. He does not want tax payers money, he wants a loan just as you or I might arrange with the bank.
2. He bought his island about 40 years ago when it was uninhabited and has made it in part into a holiday centre employing about 150 staff.
3. He may be rich but this is not cash in the pocket but company assets. If he tried to sell his aircraft (and who today would see that as an investment?) he would lose the business and countless their jobs, which he is trying to save.
4. He pays the relevant tax into the country where the business operates.
So perhaps people need to have a little think before condemning the man for seeking to try and save his ship at no cost to the taxpayer...and the employment of many.

We are currently on the phone to Virgin Atlantic trying to get a refund for our flights to California which were for May 6th. We have been on the line for 45 minutes now and since there is no announcement to say where we are in the queue we have no idea how long we may have to wait to speak to somebody. If we do manage to speak to them and claim a refund we will have to wait up to 90 days for the money to be credited to our card but of course if they do go into administration who knows what we will get back, if anything. We have managed to get refunds on our hotel bookings and will be able to cancel our single trip travel insurance policy and get a full refund but of course the flights are the bulk of the money we spent.

Apparently when British Airways was going under in 2009 he said that it shouldn't be bailed out by the British government as the routes freed up would simply be taken over by other companies such as Virgin which is what business is all about. So what's changed since 2009. Oh yes, now it's his company that is ripe for take over.