I don't know what all pies Sir Richard Branson has his thumbs in but I can think of a good number of companies named "Virgin" this or that--airlines come to mind and I know there are others. I seem to recall a suborbital spaceship he has an interest in, although I will concede that as a business investment that should be classified as speculative.

And besides, even if this deal goes through (which I kinda doubt-- the US may have abandoned all pretense of antitrust law but that doesn't mean the rest of the world has) this just leaves Branson with another $20 BILLION rattling around his pocket.

Okay, minus whatever he has to split with other Virgin Media investors, plus debt, etc....It might be just a mere 8-10 billion. Hu nose. Whatever it is it would seem like enough to keep financing just about anything he'd like.