He had just made his fortune as a hippy record seller, but Sir Richard Branson claimed yesterday that he already had his eyes on the cruise holidays market.
The entrepreneur is being sued for $300 million after allegedly stealing plans to operate two “ultra ships” when he announced plans for a Virgin Cruises business last year, it was revealed yesterday.
An industry expert says that he was muscled out of the business after giving Sir Richard a presentation at Necker Island, his private hideaway in the Caribbean, and arranging deals to build and finance two ships costing $1.6 billion. Colin Veitch claims in court papers filed in Miami that the “dark side of Virgin quickly emerged” when the company “stole” his plan and he was “squeezed out” of the deal and replaced by the former president of Disney Cruise Line.
Sir Richard announced the plan for Virgin Cruises in December, saying: “We plan to shake up the cruise industry.”
Mr Veitch, the former chief executive of Norwegian Cruise Line, says that he presented his proposal, featuring plans for two of the biggest passenger ships ever built, four years ago. Each ship would have 2,408 passenger cabins and carry up to 5,000 passengers and would have featured surfing machines and bowling alleys.
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Mr Veitch said that under his plans, Virgin would have earned royalties of between $427 million and $482 million over a decade, but the company swiftly moved to reduce his share of the income before easing him out of the deal.
He accuses Virgin of turning from “brand partner to bully” and is suing for breach of contract, misappropriation, unjust enrichment and breach of good faith.
Sir Richard, whose Virgin empire is associated with aircraft and trains, said yesterday that he had been looking at the cruise market since the late 1970s, which would have been soon after he made his fortune selling copies of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells from the boot of his car and signing the Sex Pistols.
A spokeswoman for the entrepreneur said: “Richard Branson and the Virgin Group first looked at the cruise market in the late 1970s, and our current team has been exploring the opportunity for more than a decade. Over the years, we have been in discussions with a number of parties including the plaintiff, and those discussions ceased in 2012. We strongly believe the claim has no merits.”