BRITAIN IRELAND SCOTLAND YOUNG PEOPLE WOMEN Sir Richard Branson RESULTS 2006 Ranking Worth Industry 9 £3,065m Transport and mobile phones Takeover activity is swirling round Branson. His Virgin Mobile business has been taken over by the cable operator NTL for £962m. In Australia, he could regain control of Virgin Blue, the low-cost airline that was taken over last year. The Virgin empire — ventures either controlled by Branson, 55, or in which he has a significant stake — includes trains, planes, mobile phones, the internet, music, wine and holidays. These made a combined profit of about £265m on £5.8 billion sales last year and the business is worth at least £2.4 billion. We add £640m for the Virgin Mobile sale proceeds and about £25m for homes, estates and Branson’s yacht. RESULTS 2005 Ranking 7 Worth 2005: £3,000m