MELBOURNE – On the day Virgin Blue airline announced a A$101.4 million loss, and the possible shredding of hundreds of jobs, Virgin Group boss Sir Richard Branson jumped off a tram in Melbourne’s CBD to announce he was expanding his businesses and creating more jobs than he was losing.
Flanked by trademark young models, Branson was launching his latest venture, Virgin Active gyms, in Australia.
The billionaire said that despite the occasional loss, moguls like him had a responsibility, as well as an opportunity, to expand as the global economy shrinks.
“It’s a great time to get sites (for gyms), other businesses aren’t expanding,†he told reporters.
“It’s important companies like Virgin that can afford to expand, do expand in times of recession.
“Otherwise we’ll never get out of these recessions, you’ll just find more and more people lose jobs, everybody freezes, nobody does anything and it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.â€
Meanwhile, back in Brisbane, Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey was having a personal workout – from the media hacks that were quizzing him on why Virgin was launching a new trans-Pacific airline, V Australia, at a time of severe distress for international carriers.
Source: The Mole and The West Australian
