Richard Branson's Virgin Group continues to unload assets.
At the beginning of the year the British conglomerate agreed to sell its wireless phone provider Virgin Mobile to British cabler NTL for £1 billion ($1.88 billion). Now, the firm is selling a 95% stake in its record label V2 Records to Morgan Stanley for an undisclosed sum. Last year, V2 sold its U.S. unit for $15 million.
V2, founded in 1996, was Branson's second foray into the music business following the 1992 sale of Virgin Records to EMI.
The sale of V2 has led the London press to speculate that Branson is interested in launching a music cable channel under the Virgin name. As part of the Virgin Mobile sale to NTL, Virgin has agreed to lend its name to NTL's telecom products. The co-branding agreement may have prompted the original rumors of a Virgin music channel. A sale of the music label eliminates any conflict of interest that Virgin might have should it launch the cable channel, furthering the speculation.
In related news, Tom Alexander, CEO and co-founder of Virgin Mobile, will leave the company when NTL completes its acquisition. Alexander, a former executive at BT's wireless unit, helped Branson start Virgin Mobile in 1998. As a parting gift, he'll receive about £1.2 million in compensation.— Matthew Wurtzel
See story from The Independent
See story about Virgin Mobile from The Telegraph
Continue reading below
