profiles BRANSON’s Luck

The business world’s high roller is betting everything on biofuels. BY MICHAEL SPECTER

ichard Branson likes to pretend which said something like ‘Come on, marriage may well have failed for an even that business is his hobby; he sees Richard, there are better ways of cross- more fundamental reason. “Kristen and himselfR as a modern version of a nine- ing the Atlantic.’ ” I had a bizarre sexual allergy to each teenth-century British adventurer— There is luck, and then there is Rich- other,’’ he wrote. “Whenever we made Phileas T. Fogg, unbound. Rather than ard Branson’s luck. In 1977, he took love a painful rash spread across me travelling around the world in eighty an inadvertent spin on a sort of tricycle which would take about three weeks to days, however, he appears to be trying that had huge wings and an outboard heal. We went to a number of doctors to find eighty ways to do it. In 1986, motor—it was called a pterodactyl flying but we never resolved the problem. I Branson, the founder of the Virgin machine. It had been flown only once, even had a circumcision to try to stop the Group of companies, crossed the At- but the inventor, a man named Richard reaction.” lantic in the fastest time ever recorded, Ellis, was seeking investors. He thought Branson leaves the ground as often as on his boat the Chal- immediately of Branson, who saw the possible—on kite boards, parasails, glid- lenger II. The next year, the Virgin At- machine, jumped on, and started to ers, bungee cords, wind boards, wake lantic Flyer, history’s largest hot-air bal- pedal. Before he knew what was hap- boards—and soon, if all goes as planned, loon, became the first to travel the same pening, Branson found himself hun- he intends to add rocket ships to his rep- path. Bad weather and technical glitches dreds of feet in the air. He still has no ertoire. He also likes to ski, and this win- forced him to abort several attempts idea how he made it down alive; the next ter he took his family to Zermatt. (He at becoming the first to fly a balloon week, Ellis also decided to give it a whirl. and his second wife, Joan, have two around the world without stopping. But He plunged to the ground and died on children: Holly, a twenty-four-year-old in 1991 Branson soared over the Paci- impact. Branson has even survived a medical student, and Sam, twenty-one, fic Ocean from Japan to the Canadian shipwreck. In 1974, he went with his who has recently begun to work with Arctic, again establishing records while first wife, Kristen Tomassi, to Cozumel, .) On February 23rd, Bran- travelling at speeds of more than two to try and patch up a marriage that had son’s cell phone rang while they were at hundred miles per hour. Branson may suffered from numerous affairs on both dinner. He ignored it. Branson is almost well hold another record: the number sides. The area has some of the world’s absurdly accessible—he treats his e-mail of highly publicized near-death expe- best marlin fishing, and one day they address like a business card, offering it riences. He has been pulled from the and another couple decided to hire a to anyone who asks (and to many who sea five times by helicopters (and once deep-sea boat. Two miles out, a severe don’t). But, when he goes on a family from a frozen lake). During one of his storm began to pound the boat; after a holiday, he tries to step off the grid. The attempts to circle the globe, Branson frightening hour or so, the wind and phone kept ringing, though, and even- crashed into the Algerian desert. Dur- rain subsided, but Branson and his wife tually he decided that he had better see ing another, in 1998, the Chinese Air concluded that they were in the storm’s who it was. “With most people, when Force threatened to shoot his balloon eye. Convinced that the boat could not the phone rings at odd hours their first out of the sky as it crossed the Himala- withstand another attack, they urged the thought is: Oh, I hope the children are yas. It took Britain’s best diplomats to others to try to swim with them to safety. all right,’’ Branson told me a few days keep him aloft and alive. Not long after- Nobody was willing to join them. “We later. “But, if you happen to have an air- ward, he crashed into the Pacific. Bran- stripped off to our underwear and the line, well, then, there is another call you son, who has now bet much of his for- fisherman gave us a plank of wood from also fear.’’ tune on developing ecologically benign the bottom of the boat,” Branson re- It was indeed bad news, but not from sources of fuel, was asked recently if his called. Somehow, despite ten-foot waves, Virgin Atlantic. The trouble was in a swashbuckling persona wasn’t simply an the couple fought their way to shore. different arm of Branson’s transporta- advertisement for his airline, Virgin At- Neither the boat nor its occupants were tion empire: a nine-carriage Virgin Pen- lantic. “The P.R. experts actually have ever seen again. dalino train, en route to Glasgow from said that as an airline owner the last The adventure didn’t save the mar- ’s Euston Station, had derailed thing I should be doing is heading off in riage. Tomassi ran off with the singer on a remote hillside in Cumbria with balloons and boats and crashing into the Kevin Ayers and moved to Hydra. Bran- more than a hundred passengers on sea,’’ he replied. “And they have a point. son followed them, but he couldn’t win board. Initial reports were spotty, but When I went over on the Virgin Atlan- her back. Yet, as he noted in his auto- the train, travelling at nearly a hundred tic Flyer, our airline took a full-page ad biography, “Losing My Virginity,” the miles an hour, had slid down an em- lobato pablo

114 THE NEW YORKER, MAY 14, 2007

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 114—133SC. From the Sex Pistols to cellulosic butanol : “I never thought my life would go in this direction,” remarked.

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 115—133SC.—live art r16202_RD Still, rarely has a fatal accident proved so beneficial to any company: Branson called the driver a hero for staying at his post; he also invited the press to tour the factory to see how the manufacturer built safety into each carriage. Virgin e-mailed every customer, explaining what had happened and how the acci- dent would affect schedules, and ex- pressing condolences to the family of the woman who died. “I don’t know what other C.E.O. you would have seen rush- ing to a crash that way,” Bernd Schmitt told me. Schmitt is the executive direc- tor of the Center on Global Brand Lead- ership, at Columbia Business School. “He couldn’t have planned a better re- sponse; other guys would have buried their heads in a spreadsheet. But that is one of the reasons the Virgin brand works as well as it does: Branson doesn’t plan these things at all. He just does “I can’t help but think that things might have turned them.” out differently if we had never met.” Virgin ranks among the largest pri- vately owned corporations in Europe. The group has fifty-five thousand em- •• ployees working in more than two hun- dred loosely federated companies, which bankment and flipped onto its side. minimum one can do in a situation like include not just Megastores and air- Branson drove through the night, reach- that,’’ he said. “If my children or family lines—in addition to Virgin Atlantic, ing Zurich at 6 a.m., just in time to catch had been in that crash, I would have ex- there are Virgin Nigeria and the Aus- the first flight to Manchester. From the pected the owner of the train to get tralian carrier Virgin Blue, as well as a airport, he went directly to see passen- there as quickly as possible, find out private airline and a helicopter service— gers and crew members in the hospital. what was going on, and see how he but also Virgin Limousines and Limo- A number of people were seriously in- could help.’’ It soon became clear that bikes, Virgin Money, jured. He also met with the relatives of track-maintenance workers had failed (health clubs), and (gam- the only fatality, an eighty-four-year-old to secure several bolts at a crucial junc- bling). There are Virgin companies that woman. When Branson arrived at the tion, and National Rail officials ac- sell cosmetics, condoms, comics, pic- scene of the wreckage, he was astonished knowledged that they—and not Vir- nics, and wine. There is one that owns by its magnitude. “It was as if somebody gin—were to blame. Police surveying spas and game preserves, another that had picked up some Dinky Toys and the destruction said that only a “miracle” arranges balloon trips, and even one dropped them all over the English coun- had prevented greater loss of life. The called Virgin Brides. In February, Bran- tryside,’’ he told me. “It was shocking reason was actually more prosaic: Bran- son, concerned about the future avail- that anyone at all came out alive. We son’s trains were built with safety speci- ability of stem cells for children who have transported sixty million people in fications drawn from Virgin’s experi- may one day need them, started Virgin one form or another since we started ence in the aircraft industry. There were Health Bank, which will store cord Virgin Atlantic. Our airlines have a one- no sharp edges on seats or tables. Not a blood for use later in life. I once asked hundred-per-cent safety record. The single window broke, and the coaches Branson to describe how he decides to train company had as well. I’m the sort remained linked, despite the force of the start a business. “It’s just basically what of person who cries at a happy film,’’ he crash. “The one positive thing that came interests me,” he said. “When I was said, swallowing hard. “I cry at a sad out of it is that the money we spent on younger, we had Virgin Night Clubs. film. . . . Of course, I knew this kind of building those trains was well worth it,” Now we have Virgin Health Clubs.” He day would come. I have prepared myself Branson told me. shrugged. “I guess Virgin Funerals are for it. But you can’t know in advance of That night, Branson led every news- inevitable.” a tragedy how you are going to act. You cast, which wasn’t surprising. His talent One of Branson’s newest companies, just can’t know.’’ for public relations is as well docu- , plans to become the Reporters were surprised to see Bran- mented as his fetish for personal and first to offer regularly scheduled trips son at the crash site before the cause had financial risk. Together, they have made into the cosmos. Five vessels are under been determined. “It was really the bare him one of the richest men in England. construction, and Virgin has already col-

116 THE NEW YORKER, MAY 14, 2007

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 116—133SC—live opi art A11785. lected full fares—roughly two hundred way to scrub billions of tons of carbon tion is how would I wish to be remem- thousand dollars each—from more than dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere. bered, I guess I would have to say not as a hundred and seventy-five passengers. Many people doubt that it can be done, somebody who spent his life in a balloon.” (One man cashed in two million Virgin however, and the announcement elicited Atlantic frequent-flier miles for his seat.) dreary predictions about the future of the ichard Branson has always lived by The initial trips, in 2009, will last two planet. Branson, ever the optimistic en- Wilde’s adage that “there is only and a half hours and take customers trepreneur, likened the prize to cash in- oneR thing worse than being talked about, sixty-eight miles into space. Eventually, ducements that have led to some of his- and that is not being talked about.’’ In his though, Branson envisages rocket travel tory’s most notable achievements in case, there is nothing to fear. In 2002, across the globe—thirty-minute flights, navigation, exploration, and industry. “I the British Broadcasting Corporation for instance, between New York and believe in our resourcefulness and in our asked its viewers to select history’s hun- Sydney—as well as to space hotels and capacity to invent solutions to the prob- dred greatest Britons. He ranked eighty- to the moon. He also has his hands full lems we have ourselves created,” he told fifth, comfortably ahead of Sir Walter on earth. His newest conglomerate, Vir- me. “We are facing a crisis, but I reject Raleigh and King Henry II. He even got gin Media, is in a highly public struggle the idea that we have already passed the more votes than Bono, though not as with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Broadcast- point of no return.’’ many as Jane Austen or Lawrence of ing Group for control of Britain’s digi- That afternoon, I met Branson for Arabia. The following year, Channel 4 tal and cable riches. On February 8th, lunch at the Roof Gardens, in Ken- held its own poll, for the hundred “Brit- Branson turned up at Covent Garden, sington (another Virgin property). He ons we love to hate.” This time, the au- slung the high-end stripper Dita Von had hardly slept, and was struggling to dience was told to choose only among Teese over his shoulder, and spirited her make it through the day. At fifty-six, in the living; Branson—along with Tony off to a hansom cab pulled by two black slightly frayed jeans and an untucked Blair, Queen Elizabeth II, and David horses. They arrived at a glass-enclosed shirt, with a straggly goatee and shaggy Beckham—was one of the few to make living room that had been placed next to blond hair unkempt to perfection, Rich- both lists. “My hat is off to Sir Richard the Royal Opera House. There Branson ard Branson looks like the richest stunt- Branson,’’ one woman wrote to a local spent the rest of the day promoting the man on earth; but that kind of fun ap- newspaper after the train crash. “I wish new company by watching only Virgin parently has its limits, and lately he has that man was running the country.’’ It is Media cable programs and communi- been talking as if he may have reached a surprisingly common sentiment, and cating with the “outside world” solely them. “The ballooning and boating has been for years, but so is this: “Are you through Virgin’s mobile phones and In- helped put Virgin on the map on a kidding me?” one man replied when the ternet connections. global basis,’’ he told me. “I certainly re- letter went up on the newspaper’s Web He had come to London for another gret none of it. But there are quite a lot site. “He comes across to me as a public- reason as well. Until about a year ago, of important things going on right now ity-seeking sleaze.” Branson thought it unlikely that global on this planet and I don’t really want What other knight of the realm warming posed consequential problems to kill myself in a stupid way. It didn’t would appear, waterskiing, on “Bay- for the planet. Then Al Gore paid him a seem to matter as much when I was watch,” or as a guest star on “Friends”? visit and Branson quickly succumbed to young. I had everything to lose and I (He and his son, Sam, also turned up as his slide show. Branson doesn’t dabble. wasn’t reticent to lose it. But if the ques- harried passengers in “Casino Royale,” If he is in, he is in all the way. Last Sep- tember, at Bill Clinton’s annual Global Initiative meeting in New York, Branson announced that for the next ten years he will divert all profits from his transporta- tion businesses—mostly airplanes—to develop renewable alternatives to carbon fuels. The pledge should amount to three billion dollars—though Branson (who is worth twice that) says that he will make good on the promise even if profits fal- ter. It is by far the biggest such commit- ment that has yet been made to fight global warming. In February, with Gore at his side, Branson went further, an- nouncing the , the largest philanthropic prize ever of- fered: twenty-five million dollars to any- one who helps impede climate change without seriously disrupting our way of life. The prize-winner will have to find a “It’s basically ‘The Tragedy of King Lear’ but with animated penguins.”

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 117—133SC.—live opi art a12431 cameos they earned by lending the pro- entrepreneur, then Thatcher-era yup- few miles from our house and made me ducers a jet. Fittingly, Branson had pie, and, finally, socially conscious leader find my own way home across the fields. a small role in the 2004 remake of of Cool Britannia—because he doesn’t My youngest sister Vanessa’s earliest “Around the World in Eighty Days.”) In think he’s changed a bit. “I remember memory is being woken up in the dark person, Branson is notably soft-spoken being with the Sex Pistols riding down one January morning because Mum had and deferential. In fact, the best way to the Thames on a boat in 1977,’’ he said. decided that I should cycle to Bourne- describe him is shy. Utter the word “Vir- “And they were singing, ‘God save the mouth that day.’’ Branson was eleven gin,” however, and there doesn’t really Queen, her fascist regime,’ and every- and Bournemouth was a fifty-mile ride. seem to be anything he won’t do. Bran- body getting arrested. Then, twenty-five “She did things then that if she did them son shakes every hand that appears in years later, there I am sitting next to the now she would be arrested,’’ Branson front of his face, and I once saw him Queen at Buckingham Palace, having told me recently. I asked him if he pose for the same picture with a mortified been knighted. And I couldn’t help think- thought his flamboyance and love of the teen-ager four times because the boy’s ing, I wonder if she can remember what spotlight were in any way attempts to mother couldn’t figure out how to work I was doing on the day of her Silver hold his parents’ attention. “I don’t think her cell phone. (“I just want to tell you Jubilee.” in psychiatric terms,’’ he replied quickly, that in Saline County, Kansas, we adore The Queen may have warmed to ending the discussion. He has always you,’’ she said. “Have you heard of Saline Branson, but much of the rest of the been close to his parents and intends, in County?” Branson shrugged and said, Wellington-boot crowd has not. They two years, when his father turns ninety, “Isn’t that where the Yellow Brick Road consider him “common” and—even to accompany him into space. ends up?”) Not long ago, Branson in- more horrific—eager to earn money. Branson had no interest in school vited the MTV show “Cribs” for a tour Yet Branson’s popularity is such that and was a famously bad student. “Rich- of Necker Island, his private hideaway when Apple Computer ran its “Think ard is highly intelligent but education- in the British Virgin Islands. His Amer- Different” ads in England his photo- ally dyslexic,’’ his longtime lieutenant ican television series on Fox, “The Rebel graph appeared along with those of Will Whitehorn told me. “It has freed Billionaire: Branson’s Quest for the Einstein and Gandhi as one of the peo- him to live by his gut reaction to things, Best,” barely limped through a season— ple who shaped the twentieth century. and that has served him well. I was the opening credits played over the As a man who is both rapaciously cap- brought up in a more academic environ- theme “Live and Let Die” (“The name italistic and intemperately candid, he ment—to find there was always a reason is Branson,’’ he says, while the camera seems to belong more in Oprah’s world why something can’t happen. Richard flashes to the wing of one of his planes. than in Churchill’s. “There are some hates it when people tell him that. He “Sir Richard Branson.”) Naturally, the things about the British that obviously isn’t hamstrung by academic disputes. program was compared to “The Ap- have never appealed to me,’’ he said. “I He finds them tedious.” Branson is like prentice,” whose star, Donald Trump, was watching tennis the other day and a musician who cannot read music but couldn’t resist gloating when it failed. looking at all those guys in their blazers has perfect pitch. He never finished “Richard Branson, your ratings speak in the Royal Box. It just made me shiver. school or attended university; when he very loudly, and you just got fired!’’ he I feel more comfortable amongst Amer- left Stowe, his headmaster told him, said, before going on to trash Branson icans oftentimes. Britain is changing, “You are either going to be a millionaire personally. “I don’t believe he’s a billion- but there is still a fairly fuddy-duddy or going to jail.” Branson did both. He aire,’’ Trump, who has often been ac- establishment.” opened a health center in the crypt of a cused of exaggerating his own fortune, Branson was raised in Surrey and ed- church in central London in 1968. Soon said. “I wish him a lot of luck in the ucated as a proper, upper-middle-class he was prosecuted under the 1917 Ve- businesses. But, I can tell you, on televi- British boy; he attended Stowe, among nereal Diseases Act, which was intended sion he’s a total failure.” In some respects, whose other graduates—they are called to prevent charlatans from working as Branson is the anti-Trump. There are no Old Stoics—have been David Niven, doctors. The center dispensed advice and monumental Branson Towers in Lon- Prince Rainier, and Christopher Robin not medicine, however, so the charges don; in fact, his name appears on no Milne. From an early age, he and his two were dropped. building at all. At Virgin, Branson’s nick- sisters were taught that the alternative to His next indictment, under the 1889 name is Dr. Yes, largely because he has standing on their own feet would be di- Indecent Advertisements Act, was in never been able to bring himself to fire saster. “My mother was determined to 1977, when the Sex Pistols released people, and often has trouble saying no make us independent,’’ he has written. their only album, “Never Mind the Bol- to even the most ridiculous and unsolic- “When I was four she stopped the car a locks Here’s the Sex Pistols,” on the Vir- ited ideas. gin Records label. “ ‘Bollocks’ was con- Branson simply doesn’t possess the sidered an unforgivably rude word,’’ shame gene that governs so much of Branson said. The playwright and law- upper-class British life. He was knighted yer John Mortimer successfully de- in 1999, and three years later, as a guest fended him by producing an expert at Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee, he witness to demonstrate that the word found himself laughing quietly at the “bollocks” was derived from an Anglo- irony of his metamorphosis—first hippie Saxon term and could be used to refer to

118 THE NEW YORKER, MAY 14, 2007

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 118—133SC.118—133SC live spot art r16211_G—pld inspect and report on quality. sign them. They were repulsive and seemed to spend as much time shooting remainder of a life up and throwing up as they did playing music. But their outrages made news If I were told: and, oddly, they brought Branson cred- By evening you will die, ibility that allowed him to sign people so what will you do until then? like Steve Winwood, Boy George, and I would look at my wristwatch, Peter Gabriel. I’d drink a glass of juice, Branson likes to enter a market con- bite an apple, trolled by a giant—British Airways, say, contemplate at length an ant that has found its food, or Coke, or Murdoch. Then he presents then look at my wristwatch. himself as the hip alternative. (Usually it There’d be time left to shave my beard works, but not always. , and dive in a bath, obsess: which was launched in 1994, was a disas- “There must be an adornment for writing, ter, though “we are still No. 1 in Bangla- so let it be a blue garment.” desh,” Branson told me recently.) Virgin I’d sit until noon alive at my desk Atlantic Airways got its start, in part, be- but wouldn’t see the trace of color in the words, cause Branson was pissed off that a flight white, white, white . . . he was planning to take to Puerto Rico I’d prepare my last lunch, had been cancelled. After finding a com- pour wine in two glasses: one for me pany that would charter a jet for two and one for the one who will come without appointment, thousand dollars, he divided the price by then I’d take a nap between two dreams. the number of seats, borrowed a black- But my snoring would wake me . . . board, and wrote, “Virgin Airways, $39 so I’d look at my wristwatch: single flight to Puerto Rico.” As he recalls and there’d be time left for reading. it, “I walked around the terminal and I’d read a chapter in Dante and half of a mu’allaqah soon filled every seat on the plane.” and see how my life goes from me Virgin started flying in 1984, on one to the others, but I wouldn’t ask who route with one leased jetliner. “At that would fll what’s missing in it. time, the airline industry was even worse That’s it, then? than it is now,’’ he told me. “You were That’s it, that’s it. lucky if you got a piece of warmed-over Then what? chicken dumped on your lap. People Then I’d comb my hair and throw away the poem . . . were treated like cattle; it wasn’t neces- this poem, in the trash, sary or good business.’’ Virgin became and put on the latest fashion in Italian shirts, the first airline to equip every coach seat parade myself in an entourage of Spanish violins, with video displays and the first to of- and walk to the grave! fer in-flight massage and manicure ser- vices. Good service gets you only so far, —Mahmoud Darwish though. The airline business is brutal— (Translated, from the Arabic, by Fady Joudah.) Branson likes to say that the easiest way to become a millionaire is to start as a billionaire and buy an airline. Nonethe- a priest. The witness even turned up in order business, so he opened a record less, he is about to start a new one in the court wearing clerical garb. The judge, shop on Oxford Street. It didn’t take U.S.—, which will at to his dismay, was forced to dismiss the him long to see that it would make more first serve San Francisco, Los Angeles, charges, saying, “Much as my colleagues sense to record music than to buy it, so and New York. “When we began, more and I wholeheartedly deplore the vulgar he built a studio and signed the first Vir- than twenty years ago, we were compet- exploitation of the worst instincts of gin artist, Mike Oldfield. It was a classic ing with thirteen airlines across the At- human nature for the purchases of com- piece of Branson luck: the opening song lantic,’’ he said. “Of those thirteen, twelve mercial profits by both you and your on Oldfield’s album, “Tubular Bells,’’ have gone into bankruptcy or Chap- company, we must reluctantly find you became the theme to “The Exorcist”— ter 11. There is only British Airways and not guilty.’’ which helped it sell five million copies. ourselves flying who have not. A lot of Branson made his defining fortune For a long time, Oldfield earned Virgin those carriers were enormous: Air Flor- through , which he more money than all its other acts com- ida, Pan Am. But it shows in the end founded as a mail-order retailer in 1970 bined. Relying too heavily on one artist that most people seek out quality over a to raise money for a magazine called is not much of a business plan, though; really ghastly service, which is what most Student, which he was running. A postal the Sex Pistols had been dumped by two American airlines provide.” strike threatened to destroy the mail- labels, and nobody else was willing to British Airways didn’t take kindly to

THE NEW YORKER, MAY 14, 2007 119

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 119—133SC •• its new competitor. In 1990, after Bran- (Nor has the bad blood subsided; two dollar check it wasn’t an easy day for son completed a highly publicized weeks ago, when British Airways began me. I had just talked to the staff and mercy mission to Iraq to bring home showing “Casino Royale” on its flights, explained what was happening and I hostages of Saddam Hussein, B.A.’s the airline removed Branson from his was running down the street with tears chairman, Lord King, told his top aides scene, and obscured the fin of a Virgin streaming down my face. Then I passed to “do something” about Virgin and its jet.) “It’s a hell of a lot more fun being a newspaper kiosk and I saw all the chief executive. That edict began an ex- in the David role,” Branson said. The headlines: ‘Branson Sells for a Bil- tensive secret war against Branson and victory came at a cost, though. Many lion.’ I remember thinking, Well, this Virgin which came to be known as the of Branson’s other businesses were in will make an incredibly strange picture if “dirty tricks” campaign. British Airways financial peril during the nineteen- anyone should catch it.” lied to Virgin’s customers, tampered eighties. Fighting British Airways cost with its databases, and spread false ru- a fortune, so in 1992 Branson sold Vir- ecker Island sits atop seventy-four mors about Branson himself. Branson gin Music’s record label, publishing acres of rock in the dazzling blue sued, and in 1993 B.A., facing certain arm, and recording studios to Thorn centerN of the British Virgin Islands. It defeat in court, conceded that it had EMI, for a billion dollars. is surrounded by coral reefs, equipped taken those actions and apologized “It was a very difficult decision,’’ Bran- with every type of water board, kite, and publicly. Branson received a libel judg- son told me. “I had just signed the Roll- sailboat known to man, and staffed by a ment of six hundred and ten thousand ing Stones, and I had spent a lot of my professional tennis coach, a chef, a full- pounds, which he distributed among life trying to do that. Virgin had become time masseuse (who previously had his staff; it became known as the B.A. the biggest independent record company worked for Virgin Atlantic in its Upper bonus. The airline was also assessed in the world. It was exploding on all Class cabin), yoga instructors, and sev- court fees that ran into the millions; fronts, and these were people who I had eral dozen other staff members. From King was forced to retire early, and in been working with since I was a teen- the edge of the infinity pool at the Great disgrace. The incident cemented Vir- ager. . . . So it was certainly not some- House, one can gaze across thickets of gin’s reputation as the little guy always thing I wanted to do. roses, iris, and rhododendron, into the willing to take on Goliaths; it’s an image “I never have regrets,’’ he continued. azure sea and out toward Virgin Gorda. that persists, despite the fact that Virgin “They just don’t seem to solve anything. Flamingos strut around the pond. Bran- stopped being the little guy long ago. But it is true that when I got this billion- son bought Necker in 1972, for a hun-

120 THE NEW YORKER, MAY 14, 2007

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 120—133SC.—live art a12171 dred and thirty thousand pounds, when Holly and Sam, are often with them on son’s initial focus, however, has been on it had nothing on it but a couple of palm the island, and when they are apart ethanol and butanol. “These technolo- trees; over the years, he has transformed Branson speaks to them nearly every gies are further along than some others, the island into the kind of place that any day. Branson, who rises early, had just so it makes sense to me to invest in man with a few billion dollars and an finished a Pilates lesson. “In the last few them,” he said. “You might as well tick acute understanding of pleasure would weeks, I have discovered something the winning boxes first.” appreciate. He recently bought its near- that I have always laughed at my friends Branson is agnostic about which est neighbor, Moskito Island, for ten for doing,’’ he volunteered sheepishly. fuels to support, as long as they are million dollars, and plans, with a com- “Yoga and Pilates. I feel great from it, commercially and ecologically viable. bination of windmills, solar energy, and and if I want to continue to be active Today, of course, his companies—and tidal power, to make both islands inde- when I am ninety I am going to need to his fortune—are largely propelled by oil, pendent of fuel that burns carbon. rely on both of them.” Pilates was the a finite resource whose availability can These days, Branson is on Necker first event of a day that included water only diminish. Government regula- more than anywhere else; but when he sports and a tennis match, and which tions—even in the United States—are is not it becomes a resort, available to eventually resembled a mini-Olympics. also making oil increasingly costly. Bio- groups willing to pay forty-six thousand “Fancy a sail?” he asked after breakfast. degradable products like corn and sugar, dollars a day. (Spa treatments are not in- It was more of a command than a ques- on the other hand, are renewable sources cluded.) The island is a favorite of celeb- tion, and we were soon racing toward of energy, and you don’t have to get rities—the long list includes Steven Beef Island in a Hobie Cat, its pon- them from Iraq, Russia, or Saudi Ara- Spielberg, Bill Gates, Kate Moss, and, toons slapping the water fiercely as we bia. When biofuels are manufactured in most famously, Princess Diana—be- tried to keep up with two boats carry- sufficient quantities, they should be far cause it affords at least some privacy. ing friends of his. They quickly moved cheaper than oil, and Virgin Fuels will (When Diana was there with her sons, far ahead of us. Branson looked irri- benefit directly from any technologies it the paparazzi assault on the beaches— tated and then assumed his more com- develops, which means that the com- by land, sea, and air—was so vigorous mon “Hey, it’s only rock and roll” ex- pany could earn large profits from its in- and intrusive that Branson worked out a pression: “If you are first, it’s a race,’’ he vestment. “Isn’t it surprising to you that deal: one day, the Princess presented explained, as we tried desperately to there are no biofuels billionaires?” Bran- herself briefly for a few thousand pic- come about and catch the wind. “If son asked, making it clear that he in- tures; then the photographers had to not, it’s just sailing.” We were forced to tends to become the first. “If there has disappear.) abandon our plan to circle a nearby is- ever been a market that needs new The morning I arrived (by boat, land, because it was getting close to products,“ this is it. though most guests use the heliport), mealtime and Branson wasn’t about “Let us just assume that somebody Branson’s wife, Joan, was eating break- to miss his traditional British Sunday does win this prize,” he continued. fast in the great room with several of lunch: roast beef, turnips, greens, and “That could result in us not all having to her friends. She and Branson have been several types of potatoes. radically change our lives. Personally, I married for more than seventeen years, Since his first encounter with Gore, think there are a lot of aspects of our and have been companions for thirty. Branson has become obsessed with de- basic lives that are pretty shitty anyway. They met in 1976, when her then hus- veloping alternative sources of energy. Sitting alone in a car with dirty fuel band was recording an album in the His new venture, Virgin Fuels, is not so spilling all around you. There must be a Virgin Studios. “I make up my mind much a company as a fund that seeks to better way. The economic sacrifices we about someone within thirty seconds of invest in projects that will are going to have to make meeting that person,” Branson wrote produce environmentally to stop global warming later, “and thus I fell for Joan from the benign fuel. Branson has a are massive, and we must moment I saw her.” A reserved but pattern with his businesses: hedge on that. If some- pleasant woman—“sensible, pragmatic he is intensely involved at body wins this prize, there Glaswegian” is the phrase Branson al- the beginning, and then, as is just the possibility that at most always uses to describe her—she a leadership team finds its that stage, and at that stage serves as his principal source of gravity. stride, he loosens the reins. only”—he paused for a mo- Once, at a Microsoft conference, Bill This time, though, he ment—“well, this is a dan- Gates asked the crowd if there was shows no sign of inching away. “There gerous thing to say, because I don’t want even one person left who never used are days when we speak three times,’’ anyone to think we don’t have to change. the Internet. Joan had to grab Bran- Shai Weiss, the company’s C.E.O., told But there is enormous economic benefit son’s hand to keep him from raising it. me. “Richard definitely believes in dele- to the world if we could find a techno- It was Joan who suggested the Virgin gating, but this is not just another busi- logical solution.” Earth Prize. ness for him.” Virgin Fuels has commit- The mere concept of mixing philan- The great room is lit with ecologi- ted more than four hundred million thropy with profit infuriates many envi- cally friendly light bulbs that hang from dollars, for research into the feasibility of ronmental activists. Branson’s motives a series of huge, intricately patterned using enzymes and genetically modified have been questioned almost as often as ostrich eggs. The Bransons’ children, organisms to produce clean fuels. Bran- his generosity has been praised. “And

THE NEW YORKER, MAY 14, 2007 121

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 121—133SC.121—133SC.—live spot art r16211_H—pld inspect and report on quality then Richard Branson came along with have made more sense to make invest- also simply made comfortable reading his ‘Environmental Windfall’ of $3 bil- ments in lots of sectors, and not just one,” because I am in the airline business.’’ lion and his promise to clean up global he said. “But we all do things for different Converts tend to be the most fervent transport,” Keith Farnish wrote on his reasons. Sometimes it’s a mixture of what zealots, however, and Branson has been Earth Blog not long ago. Farnish de- one would consider to be selfless and converted completely. “If this is the prob- scribed it as a “wonderfully spun P.R. selfish. A lot of this comes down to how lem that a lot of us think it is, then it is far stunt” that will have almost no effect on you are brought up. If you are in a posi- worse than the First World War and the the emission of greenhouse gases. Tony tion to help, I think you should do so. Second World War combined,” he said. Juniper, of Friends of the Earth, said, And I happen to think using our skills “Worse than any war we have ever faced. “Richard Branson is not embarking on in business is the best way for us to be And you would have thought that world a program of here and giv- effective. That is what we try to do with leaders would be meeting with an enor- ing away money to good causes. What Virgin Unite”—Virgin’s charity, which mous sense of urgency. And they are not. he is doing is reinvesting money from focusses on entrepreneurial solutions to Yet, even if we are all wrong, you would his business into a different kind of busi- problems that range from AIDS in Africa still have thought that somebody out ness for the future.” In fact, few serious to homelessness in the United States. “I there would be trying to develop alter- scientists believe that climate change can don’t want to get dramatic and say, ‘Now natives to our reliance on the Middle be addressed in any meaningful way sim- I have found my calling,’ ” Branson told East.’’ ply by seeking technological solutions; me. “But I have to pinch myself if I think On his own property, Branson is de- fundamental changes in human behavior back to the height of the Sex Pistols and ploying multiple sources—wind power, will be necessary. here I am talking about cellulosic butanol. solar energy, and biodiesel—in an attempt Branson acknowledges the criticisms, I never thought my life would go in this to eliminate carbon emissions. Both is- but he doesn’t accept a paradigm that direction.” lands will be more heavily dependent on holds profit and technology to be incom- Branson had his first significant en- wind and solar power during the winter. patible with a cleaner world. “Even if we counter with climate change when he Excess energy will be used to produce and never burned another gallon of gasoline, read a book called “The Skeptical En- store desalinated water. Branson currently the earth would continue to warm for de- vironmentalist,” by Bjorn Lomborg, a spends nearly four hundred thousand dol- cades,” he pointed out. “So doesn’t that Danish academic who has long chal- lars a year on fuel for Necker alone— suggest that we ought to at least try to lenged the widely held belief that human much of the cost includes the expense of find a way to remove some of the carbon activity places an unbearable burden on importing diesel. He expects his invest- we have already produced?” Ultimately, the environment. “What he argues is ment to pay for itself in less than six years. he believes as a first principle that if a that we are headed toward another ice He also hopes to persuade the rest of the project isn’t commercial it isn’t going to age, and all global warming is doing is British Virgin Islands to follow his lead. work. “As for why I am giving my money slowing up that process,” Branson said. “This is a demonstration project,’’ he said. away in this manner, obviously it would “It made sense to me, but it might have He was wearing a T-shirt inside out and cutoff shorts, and was drinking an iced tea. We were staring out toward the heli- port, which will soon have a wind turbine next to it—one of six that he plans to place on the island. “We want to show that becoming carbon-neutral won’t cost money, that it will actually make eco- nomic sense. That is the only way you will get most people to change their habits. “This is really not just about us,’’ he added. “The Caribbean needs to get out in front here. If the Arctic goes in the next decade, which is likely, that means Greenland could melt—at least, the ice on top of it. With that we could see a gi- gantic rise in sea levels. So it is in the self- interest of all islands on the earth to set an example, because they will be among the first affected.’’

espite the Bush Administration’s tepid response to the threat posed byD global warming, cities and states have introduced dozens of measures aimed at “Toughness isn’t something you look for in a mother.” producing (and requiring) more energy-

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 122—133SC—live opi art A12313. efficient vehicles, buildings, and appli- ances. Studies have shown that even seemingly small conservation efforts can have a dramatic impact on the environ- ment. , for example, may soon require the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs, which expend seventy-five per cent less energy than incandescent bulbs. That shift alone is expected to re- duce the country’s carbon emissions by four million tons every year. (There are forty-five light bulbs in the average Amer- ican home; reducing that number by just one would be equivalent to removing nearly a million automobiles from the road.) Conservation can take us only so far, however. Each year, the world’s demand for coal, oil, and gas to power factories, cars, and homes increases—and no plan to reduce emissions is likely to succeed unless it includes a major commitment •• to developing clean, renewable sources of energy. Despite recent increases in its of incremental change. Aircraft are tried to experiment with slowing down the production of ethanol and in the responsible for just two per cent of the flights and having them fly at lower al- purchase of hybrids, the fundamental world’s daily burden of greenhouse titudes.” The benefits of these measures relationship between oil and prosperity emissions, but that figure belies their are not large, and it’s hard for just one remains unbroken. And so does a sys- true impact. Eighty-five thousand com- airline to alter the air-traffic system. tem of subsidies that discourages invest- mercial aircraft take off and land each Earlier this year, Virgin began using ments in alternatives. “I can’t think of an day, a number that is growing by five tugs to move planes onto runways at example in human history of a bad tech- per cent a year. At that pace, by 2050 some airports, rather than the aircraft’s nology having been replaced by another there will be twice as many flights as engines. That change alone, on a flight product whose only improvement was a there are now. That increase is largely a between Heathrow and J.F.K., elimi- social good,” Daniel Kammen told me reflection of global prosperity and of nates the need for two tons of fuel. Two when we met recently in his office at the the opportunity that comes with it. But weeks ago, Branson announced that University of California at Berkeley, the environmental costs are acute: a next year, on a Boeing 747, Virgin would where he founded the Energy and Re- single flight across the Atlantic can make the first commercial flight pow- sources Group at the Goldman School generate more carbon dioxide than an ered by clean-fuel technology. of Public Policy. Branson has hired average motorist would produce in a Kammen and Daniel Prull, one of his year of driving. Furthermore, that car- aniel Kammen’s office is home to graduate students, to devise a scheme to bon is released exactly where some sci- the pragmatic, hardheaded fac- eliminate carbon emissions on Necker. entists believe it does the most harm, tionD of the green movement. He is not

New technologies arise out of ingenuity, because each molecule of CO2 created romantic about saving the earth, and sophistication, and need, Kammen ar- by burning gas or coal takes half of its neither are many of his colleagues at gues, not necessarily because they are hundred-year lifetime to rise from a Berkeley, who are only too aware that good for the planet. “Look at iPods,” he smokestack or an exhaust pipe into the people need incentives to change their said. “They play music. But they do it in stratosphere. behavior. The Berkeley team helped a useful, remarkably portable, digital Carbon dioxide released at thirty write the legislation that has made Cal- way that serves many purposes—which thousand feet has many effects, and ifornia the most environmentally ag- is why they have spread through our none are salutary. Greenhouse gases gressive state with regard to cutting car- world like a virus. We need to do that slow the process known as the thermo- bon emissions. with alternative fuels; but, when you haline cycle, which governs the density “It is hard to stress fully enough Rich- look at what most people are advocat- of salt in oceans and helps determine the ard’s importance right now,’’ Kammen ing, the changes—more use of wind temperature of the polar regions. Too told me. “What is still lacking here is power, and solar energy, for example— much carbon warms the cycle, and that, what I call the ‘third wave’ of environ- are simply not radical enough to create in turn, melts sea ice, dramatically af- mentalism. The first wave was Rachel this contagion effect.” fecting fish populations and coral reefs. Carson: recognizing the problem, and The airline industry provides a par- “This is a problem we have no plan in understanding that we need to protect ticularly graphic illustration of the lim- place to solve,” Branson told me. “I have the environment. That led to Stage 2:

THE NEW YORKER, MAY 14, 2007 123

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 123—133SC.—live opi art A12306—#2 page—text changes the system of regulations and taxes that much more demand for clean electricity dependence on petroleum products. helped make it possible to implement at night (so people could charge their Amyris has already used such tools to the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water cars at times when energy was less ex- address one of the world’s most press- Act, and other vital legislation.’’ They all pensive to use). That would provide a ing problems; its first product is a pack- worked very well, and the environment huge incentive for people to install wind age of genes from three different organ- improved immensely. But regulation farms on their real farms. isms that, when inserted into yeast, has its limits. “Kyoto is not going to save Ethanol is usually made from corn help make artemisinin, the world’s only us,’’ Kammen said. “No global treaty is blended with gasoline, and it accounts truly effective treatment. Cur- going to be sufficient. We also need a for more than ninety-five per cent of rently, the drug has to be extracted couple of big actors.” Political decisions the biofuels under development in the from the sweet-wormwood plant, like implementing carbon taxes, lower- United States (which is less than five which is indigenous to China and Viet- ing speed limits, and raising mileage re- per cent of the total energy produced). nam. It is difficult to manufacture in quirements for motor vehicles will all be To harvest and refine the corn requires sufficient quantities, particularly at a essential. “What we need more, though, considerable energy (which itself burns cost low enough to serve the hundreds is a charismatic megaphone,” Kammen fossil fuels). The savings are marginal. of millions of people who need it each said. There are other ways to make ethanol, year. “Richard is willing to say, ‘This though; one of the most promising— I drove across the Bay Bridge one affects my airlines, my trains, and my cellulosic ethanol—comes from woody morning to speak with John G. Melo, income,’ ’’ he continued. “And he knows plants and grasses. Cellulosic sources Amyris’s C.E.O., at his office in Em- how to get people to pay attention to can be fermented into ethanol by sim- eryville. Melo told me that the compa- him. Of course, the environmental ply using energy generated by the rest of ny’s synthetic version of ethanol is based movement contains some of the last the plant. This process adds only small on sugar. Using sugarcane is cheaper true puritans, and those people call him amounts of greenhouse gases to the at- and more environmentally benign than selfish, because he will clearly earn mosphere, because the plants’ emissions using corn, and would place almost no money if this works. But, for God’s are balanced by the carbon dioxide that carbon in the atmosphere. “Initially, we sake, so what? The man is willing to is absorbed as they grow. Substituting had not thought about jet fuel,” Melo pull the trigger. I know other people cellulosic ethanol for gasoline should re- said. That changed after Branson made who are just as affluent and they are duce greenhouse emissions by as much his announcement at the Clinton meet- totally constipated about what to do. as ninety per cent. ing last fall. Jet fuel must function at Richard is not. He will move from one Ethanol is heavy, though, and its thirty degrees below zero centigrade, interesting risky proposition to another. density could make it difficult to use in and so far the company’s product has Some will fail—just as some of his busi- airplanes. Butanol might work, but it is been tested only in the laboratory; but nesses have failed. But he keeps moving not well enough understood to be used Melo said that the Amyris molecule forward.” in jet fuel anytime soon. There are more easily passed that test and has essentially At present, Kammen explained, the experimental and, perhaps, more prom- the same energy content as the gas that national power grid fows in one direc- ising approaches: scientists are seeking planes use today. tion, from big central utilities to the to use the tools of molecular biology, as “What amazes me the most about all consumer. That prevents people with they have with crops, to produce genet- this,” Branson had told me, “is how solar panels, say, or windmills from sell- ically modified fuel. “I am so excited promising the research is and how little ing excess energy back into the system. about the possibilities of really engineer- money has been invested to help it “The model we want for the energy ing something that will make a dramatic along. If biofuels are made right, they market is more like eBay,” Kammen difference,’’ Branson told me when we should help create another green revolu- told me. “Sell what you don’t use to were on Necker Island. “It is the biggest tion.’’ It would be hard to dispute the somebody who wants it. If I can sell type of gamble, perhaps. But that is ex- promise of biofuels—particularly as a re- power to my utility by demonstrating actly what we need the most.” placement for burning oil and coal. Yet that I regularly put power into the grid almost any project that is derived from at 4 p.m. on a hot summer day—when ranson mentioned his interest in the collecting trees, crops, or fibre will re- demand goes up and it costs the most— work of Amyris Biotechnologies, quire an enormous manipulation of na- that is worth knowing. We could have a whichB got its start in the laboratories of ture (as would, surely, most plans to rating system, just as they do on eBay, Berkeley and has been concentrating on scrub billions of tons of carbon from the that would let people judge us with three synthetic molecules: one to replace atmosphere). The world’s forests are al- confidence as we sell our excess. Renew- gasoline, one that works like diesel, and ready in peril; harvesting trees to make able sources of energy would go from another to make jet fuel. cellulosic ethanol can only make them being the last thing a utility wants to Synthetic biology—a new field that disappear faster. Few achievements of take on board to being the first, because combines biology, genetics, and engi- modern science have been more bitterly it would cost the utility next to nothing.” neering—seeks to create and alter or- disputed than altering the genetic com- If California and other states adopted ganisms so that they can then produce position of crops for food; to do it for fuel policies that strongly support plug-in drugs and make other compounds that will be no less controversial. The price of hybrid automobiles, there would be would help us to move away from our corn, sugar, and soybeans is certain to

124 THE NEW YORKER, MAY 14, 2007

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 124—133SC.—#2 page—text changes rise if they become powerful sources of dressed in a tulle-and-lace wedding from the sea go into the net and they are energy. Worse yet, each of those crops gown to publicize the opening of a Vir- your profit. You get to keep it, so they demands a constant infusion of freshwa- gin Brides store. There were shots of call it the net.’ Finally, I had worked it all ter—which may be the scarcest com- helicopters lowering him into Times out.” modity of all. Branson is right: if these Square and of Branson hoisting Pamela There are times when it is hard to issues are addressed properly, there Anderson over his shoulder to help know whether Branson is as humble as could be a new green revolution. But launch Virgin Cola. (“We launched a he seems or if he is putting us on. Is he magic bullets are hard to find. cola bottle called the Pammy, because it just a lucky gambler? And will the planet I asked Branson whether he might be is shaped a bit like Pamela Anderson,” be as lucky? viewing the world through an unusually Branson explained.) “I don’t think I am different really optimistic lens. “I don’t know any other A list of Virgin companies flashed from any entrepreneur,’’ he told me later way to look at it,’’ he replied. “We know onto the screen. Chris Anderson asked that day. “You have to stick your neck when there is a world war humans are Branson how involved he is in the me- out on occasion. You have to make bold magnificent at changing their behavior. chanics of the business—after all, there moves, and sometimes you come close to Before Pearl Harbor, six thousand war- are so many. Branson laughed. “Well, betting everything. In my speeches, I will planes were made in the United States. I don’t understand these things com- always say you have to protect the down- Then America went to war, and within pletely,’’ he said. “For instance, I have side. But there have been occasions when three years the number grew to more been running the largest group of private I have asked my wife to sign a bit of than a quarter of a million.’’ Branson be- companies in Europe, but I had never paper. And she would say, ‘What’s that, came more animated as he went on. “In been able to know the difference be- dear?’ And I would always say, ‘Don’t a crisis situation, humans are brilliant. tween net and gross. So the board meet- worry,’ when it was actually the third They know how to react. Our problem ings have been fascinating. Because I will mortgage on the house. is that we have not gotten governments have to say, ‘Is that good news or bad “But I really do believe that if some- into that crisis mode. But if necessary we news?’ thing is important enough you should go will do it without them.” “When I turned fifty,’’ he went on, and bet the damn house,’’ he said. “For- “somebody took me outside the board- tunately, we have no mortgages on our here is no gathering of technology room and said, ‘Look, Richard. Let’s property now. So that is past. But there geeks more exclusive than TED draw you a diagram. Here is a net and are bigger things we need to gamble on. (Technology,T Entertainment, Design), here is the sea. The fish that you’ve pulled Much bigger things.”  which is held each spring in Monterey. It is an invitation-only event—four thou- sand people each pay six thousand dol- lars, and many others are turned away. If you can countenance the summer-camp ethos—attendees refer to each other as tedsters and tedizens—the group does manage to herd together many of the most interesting people in the world. It is one of the few places on earth where you can see Bill Clinton, E. O. Wilson, or Philippe Starck chatting amiably with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Cameron Diaz, or Paul Simon. This year’s theme was “Icons, Geniuses and Mavericks,” and on the final day of the conference its or- ganizer, Chris Anderson, interviewed Richard Branson before a rapt, capacity crowd. It was early on a Saturday morning, and Branson looked a little ragged. He had been out the night before with sev- eral people from Google, including one of the founders, Sergey Brin. When there didn’t seem to be enough room in the car, Branson jumped into the trunk and curled up there. As Anderson ran through Branson’s résumé, a slide show flashed behind them: Branson launching a Virgin Megastore in Los Angeles, then “This would be a great place to put a huge city.”

TNY—2007_05_14—PAGE 125—133SC—live opi art A12144.