Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson is taking on a green hue. His Virgin Earth Challenge, announced in February 2007, offers a $25m reward for a winning plan to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Branson has also established Virgin Fuels, which will channel £200m into bio-fuel investments during the next three years, with a heavy emphasis on developing cellulosic ethanol, derived from agricultural waste and fastgrowing crops such as switchgrass. This followed his announcement in September 2006, pledging to invest ten years of profits from Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains (£1.5bn) to finance research into environmentally-friendly fuels.

Aside from the environment, Branson is also locked in a battle over the future of the digital and pay television market. Virgin Mobile has teamed up with NTL, the cable operator, to form Virgin Media and it is challenging BSky B for dominance in Britain's pay television market. It is early days yet but Branson has always loved a scrap and being seen as a plucky underdog from his earliest days of empire-building, which began in 1969, when he launched Virgin Mail Order to be followed by the first Virgin record shop in 1971, and the Virgin Records label in 1973.

Today, the empire embraces trains, planes, mobile phones, the internet, music, wine sales, and holidays to name but a few. In all, there are over 285 Virgin companies, either controlled by Branson or in which he has a significant stake, and they made a combined profit of around £265m on £5.8bn sales in 2005.

Virgin Holdings, the main parent company for the Virgin Atlantic airline and Virgin Trains, made an exceptional £878.2m profit on £3bn sales in 2005-06. Nearly £750m of this profit came from the sale of shares in Virgin Mobile, but the airline and train service are still making decent returns.

Some critics wonder whether Branson has spread himself too thin and claim the whole edifice will come crashing down. But Branson has thus far proved them wrong, though businesses have closed: the latest being Virgin Cars, which was sold to a partner early in 2006. While there are some hefty loss-makers, Branson has been able to sell stakes or entire businesses, raising around £1 bn in recent years to invest elsewhere or to cover loss-making operations. He is now looking at floating the American mobile operation. This could crystallise another £500m stake for Virgin.

In Australia, Branson set up Virgin Blue in 2001, with a £4m investment and made £387m from share sales at its float two years later. He has been locked in battles with partners there and retains a 25% stake now worth £266m. Branson plans to replicate Virgin Blue's success in America and he has also taken over the national airline in Nigeria.

Branson is not one to flash his cash much on personal trinkets. A £5.3m yacht bought one Christmas was a rare indulgence. His wealth is carefully tied up in the company via overseas trusts. We reckon the total Virgin business empire should be worth at least £2.75bn on its current performance. We add another £300m for cash in the bank from disposals and windfalls plus another £50m for personal assets, homes and islands. Together, he is worth in the region of £3.1bn.