Sir Richard Branson stands to receive at least £250 million from Nationwide as an “exit fee” when the building society stops using the Virgin Money brand after its takeover of the struggling challenger bank.
The payment is due under the terms of a “brand licence agreement” and comes on top of the £400 million that Branson stands to receive from his shares in the FTSE 250-listed Virgin Money, in which he owns a 14.5 per cent stake.
You pay a licence fee to use the Virgin brand – that’s long been a standard Branson contrat. But having to pay to stop using it? Seems a tad harsh. But if that’s what the contract says, well….
Which is why Beardie Weirdie has his own island in the Caribbean and neither you nor I do.
Totally nothing to do with tax avoidance / evasion though. Totally not.
Used to see the Beardie Weirdie in the Gardens club in Kensington. I think he owned it. (Still does?) Normally dressed very casual. I gather the staff had instructions to ignore him & treat him as a regular member. Decent hombre I always reckoned.
If I had $450 million, not to speak of 3.1 billion, I might buy an island to avoid tax myself!!
The government doesn’t need Branson’s tax money to fund its spending.
And Branson isn’t causing inflation in the UK because he spends the money abroad or saves it.
So the tax planning is ok – have I got that right.
Makes a lot of sense if your brand is your main asset.
You don’t want people buying up a branded business and promptly removing the brand – it weakens your image – without at least paying a penalty.
Of course most people will focus on “that guy is rich, why can’t we lay claim to his money somehow?”
They’ve only just finished extinguishing the Yorkshire Bank name, now they’re going to start all over again and tear down the brand new Virgin Money name.
Wonder if there’s any chance of reviving the YB name, like TSB came back when Lloyds restructured.
Sounds like an early termination clause, which is a fairly standard clause in supply agreements.
Is the Virgin brand worth much nowadays or is it living on nostalgia and inertia? There was a time he and it were everywhere and it did stand for something but it seems quite tired now. Virgin Airlines was great when it launched especially their business class but the field soon caught up.