Page 36 - Forbes - USA (March 2018)

LeaderBoard

from the vault

braNsoN the bold: July 3, 2000

“MY BIGGEST WEAKNESS in life is that I can’t say
no,” said Richard Branson, flashing his trademark
grin. “If the consumer benefits, I see no reason why we
should be frightened about launching new products.”
His voraciousness had turned Virgin into a conglomer-
ate with an estimated $5 billion in sales and interests in
airlines, entertainment, rail and telecom. All of it was
built on the strength of one man’s personality: Virgin
was Branson, and Branson was Virgin. He had no
second-in-command—nor, seemingly, even any
salesmen who were able to keep up with their manic
billionaire boss. “It would be quite nice to have some
young, fresh blood getting out there and promoting the
companies,” he told us, sighing.
Virgin’s headlong pursuit of new markets led Forbes
to ask: “Can a famous brand survive such promiscuity?”
Well, it hasn’t just survived; it has flourished, despite
missteps like VirginStudent, an early social network,
and Virgin Cars, an online auto retailer. Virgin’s com-
bined revenue now exceeds $20 billion, and Branson
is currently toying with building a hyperloop in India.

Notable aNd
Newsworthy
buffett’s bad year

sigN oF the times
Look out below! Fast-Forward
may 1999 to may 2000 was China’s meteoric Climb
a stock-market roller-coaster 2000: No billionaires hail from
ride, as tech shares surged and mainland china. (the country’s
then plummeted. the fortune of first billionaire, banker Larry Yung,
Japanese billionaire masayoshi debuted on our 1997 billionaires
son (below) rose 12-fold to $68.5 list and then quickly dropped off.)
billion from may 1999 to the 2018: after averaging almost
following February, then dropped 10% annual gDP growth in the For 1999, Warren buffett gave
to $21.8 billion three months later. years since, china now has 373 himself a “D” for berkshire
bill gates’ wealth spiked from billionaires, including the world’s hathaway’s results. its portfolio
$61.3 billion to $92.5 billion, then 17th-richest person, tencent ceo had performed terribly,
back to $51.4 billion, over the Pony ma (below). taking berkshire shares down
same period. amaziNg ad in lockstep and wiping $8
The Digital Tool billion from buffett’s fortune. L to R: Yamaguchi haRuYoshi/coRbis/gettY images; tPg/gettY images; Dave WeaveR/aP
La plus ça change. . . . berkshire owned stalwarts
like coca-cola and american
express, studiously avoiding
the companies caught up in
the end of the initial dot-com
era. the oracle looked wiser
than ever when the bubble
burst: berkshire hathaway by AbrAm brown
gained 29% in 2000 while the
Nasdaq lost 39%.

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