Branson bought $6m island for $100k to impress girl, now worth millions
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson recounts how he purchased Necker Island in 1978 to impress his future wife, Joan Templeman. Despite the island's $6 million price tag, Branson successfully negotiated a purchase for $100,000.
Why it matters
The story highlights the early risk-taking and romantic motivations behind the formation of the Virgin brand's iconic assets.
Long before Sir Richard Branson became a billionaire entrepreneur with a global business empire, he was a young businessman looking for a way to impress the woman he had fallen in love with.His idea was extraordinary, buy an island.In 1978, Branson learned that a 74-acre island in the British Virgin Islands was on the market. The property was Necker Island, and its name immediately caught his attention because of its connection to the Virgin brand he had launched in 1970 as a mail-order record business.
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