Sir Richard Branson took a cheeky swipe at British Airways, blaming it for him having to sell his beloved record company while admitting that it helped him achieve even more success.
The billionaire flew into London to celebrate the 40th birthday of Virgin Records at the launch of an exhibition last night.
He started the business in 1973 but sold up in 1992 during Virgin Atlantic’s fierce competition with British Airways.
“As it turned out, if I’d known what was going to happen to the music industry three or four years later, it looked like I was the cleverest person in the world,” he said.
“It was actually forced on to me by British Airways, who were trying to put my airline out of business. We got a billion dollars for it and that has enabled us to do wonderful things since.The record company has gone on under new owners but still with the Virgin brand attached to it. Virgin Atlantic is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and we wouldn’t be in the spaceship business today if we hadn’t.
“All in all, it was a fortunate thing and I have to thank British Airways for that because if they hadn’t tried to put us out of business we would never have done any of it.” Sir Richard was joined at the launch by some of the label’s artists, including Jake Bugg and Professor Green, along with his children Holly and Sam.
He bemoaned the effect on music of shows such as The X Factor: “Bands like Pink Floyd had to build up a following through clubs — they couldn’t just explode overnight via one TV show.”
The Virgin Records Exhibition is at Victoria House until Tuesday. Visit virgin40.com for details.
