Richard Branson - Well Done.

Sky said:
There's no arguing with that, but still a remarkable achievement nonetheless. :cool:
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An air launch is certainly far better than a multi stage rocket - I'll grant him that.
 
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I think Branson's achievement was in funding Bert Rutan to develop the first generation - Spaceship One and Two, and get them flying into sub-orbital space; todays flight was his reward, and it did mark a progression point in terms of aircraft payload. I think Bezos' engineers have taken that thinking to a new generation of design, by being less environmentally impacting and flying higher with a good payload.
 
whiteflyer said:
He did this after begging for government money last year and asking staff to take 8 weeks unpaid leave, what a T*&T
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pretty much what i think a rich pretentious w****r
 
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Pity it wasn’t a five year mission into deep space.
 
It might be sub orbital now. But will be a step to orbital flight soon enough. Possibly the only way to service refuel and replacing communications satellites effectively.
 
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Ricardodaforce said:
Different companies.
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Of course it was different Companies, but all owned by him. As he pointed out in his autobiography, it was always his policy to start a separate Company every time an existing one reached one hundred employees. This qualifies for extra government grants, reduces tax liability (he doesn't seem to like paying tax), and allows him to close companies in debt without paying the creditors.

This is normal in business of course, I'm not suggesting that he is worse than everyone else.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Of course it was different Companies, but all owned by him. As he pointed out in his autobiography, it was always his policy to start a separate Company every time an existing one reached one hundred employees. This qualifies for extra government grants, reduces tax liability (he doesn't seem to like paying tax), and allows him to close companies in debt without paying the creditors.

This is normal in business of course, I'm not suggesting that he is worse than everyone else.
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I was under the impression that even though he founded Virgin Galactic, he isn’t the owner.
 
Garry Edwards said:
This is normal in business of course, I'm not suggesting that he is worse than everyone else.
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Puts me in mind of the guy who killed his parents for their money, then asked the court to show mercy to an orphan. :naughty:
 
Ricardodaforce said:
I was under the impression that even though he founded Virgin Galactic, he isn’t the owner.
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He tends to control companies rather than own them. his direct personal stake in any one of them might be quite small. he owns the controlling Holding company.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
He tends to control companies rather than own them.
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This has long been a criticism of Limited Liability. In 1855, Edward William Cox summed up the disadvantages of limited companies to creditors of all classes...
{public morality dictates} that he who acts through an agent should be responsible for his agent's acts, and that he who shares the profits of an enterprise ought also to be subject to its losses; that there is a moral obligation, which it is the duty of the laws of a civilised nation to enforce, to pay debts, perform contracts and make reparation for wrongs.

Limited liability is founded on the opposite principle and permits a man to avail himself of acts if advantageous to him, and not to be responsible for them if they should be disadvantageous; to speculate for profits without being liable for losses; to make contracts, incur debts, and commit wrongs, the law depriving the creditor, the contractor, and the injured of a remedy against the property or person of the wrongdoer, beyond the limit, however small, at which it may please him to determine his own liability

en.wikipedia.org

Limited liability - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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Sky said:
I've just finished watching Branson's flight into space - it took me straight back to being a kid watching the Apollo missions
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I watched that live. Pretty awesome.

Just got to wait for the ticket price to come down a bit! :eek:
 
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Donnie said:
Still the same guy at the head of the table, the same one that sued the NHS :mad:
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Like him or loathe him, there are rules when it comes to Ltd companies. He is not personally liable for company debts, that is the whole point of Limited Liability.

If you had shares in Virgin Airways would you think it fair if you were suddenly asked to stump up your personal cash to bail out the company?
 
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AndrewFlannigan said:
tends to control companies rather than own them. his direct personal stake in any one of them might be quite small. he owns the controlling Holding company.
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Many of the companies with the Virgin name are just paying for the branding, Branson has zero input and zero control. Virgin Media is solely owned and run by NTL, there was going to be a Virgin train in Florida, but the company that owns it pulled out of the branding deal.
 
ecoleman said:
Like him or loathe him, there are rules when it comes to Ltd companies. He is not personally liable for company debts, that is the whole point of Limited Liability.

If you had shares in Virgin Airways would you think it fair if you were suddenly asked to stump up your personal cash to bail out the company?
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I don't know what the responsibilities are for shareholders as I don't have shares in any companies so can't answer that? Are shareholders responsible for company debts if that situation arises?
 
whiteflyer said:
Many of the companies with the Virgin name are just paying for the branding,..
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Credit where credit is due: you quoted my quote of Terry's posting... :wideyed:
 
ecoleman said:
No. A limited company is an entity in its own right.
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Which is the major problem. Some governments are waking up to the problems of limited liability but few have the courage to do anything about it.
 
ecoleman said:
No. A limited company is an entity in its own right.
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OK so then you're original question to me has no real relevance to Branson suing the NHS
 
whiteflyer said:
Many of the companies with the Virgin name are just paying for the branding, Branson has zero input and zero control. Virgin Media is solely owned and run by NTL, there was going to be a Virgin train in Florida, but the company that owns it pulled out of the branding deal.
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NTL? Don’t you mean Libert Global?
Or if you really want to be up to date, Virgin Media in the U.K. is a 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica.
 
ecoleman said:
Like him or loathe him, there are rules when it comes to Ltd companies. He is not personally liable for company debts, that is the whole point of Limited Liability.

If you had shares in Virgin Airways would you think it fair if you were suddenly asked to stump up your personal cash to bail out the company.
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Lloyds under writers have to do exactly that. They are responsible for the total the signed for.
Many have lost everything.
 
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