Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Neither! It’s Richard Branson.
Not so long ago, FT Alphaville found itself admiring the quixotic antics of one José Maria Ruiz-Mateos – a flamboyant Spanish businessman who had a knack for the ill-fated publicity stunt. Back in 1992, Mr Ruiz-Mateos dressed as superman to celebrate cinching his takeover of football club Rayo Vallencano. Having conducted his due diligence, Ruiz-Mateos’ supersenses must have indicated the club was a good buy.
Oh how we laughed – Northern Rock was so crocked it could only attract this kind of lycra-clad joker.
Here then, on video, is what Sir Richard Branson – knight of the realm, entrepreneur, billionaire and Crock’s new potential saviour – was doing last week, just a couple of days before Virgin announced its interest in the troubled bank:
He’s stuck. Being helped down after a painful crotch-splitting experience. After a death-defying leap from the top of a building to launch a new Virgin flight, Branson scooted down towards his audience on a wire, but accelerated ever so slightly too much. Half way down, he banged his hand, spun around and ripped open the seat of his trousers, treating the crowd below to the terrifying sight of the Branson posterior speeding towards them.
Admittedly it’s a lot more impressive than a potbelly in a lycra supersuit, but is there really that much difference in it? Possibly. Publicity stunts aside, Virgin is taking no prisoners with its plans for the troubled Newcastle lender. Virgin money chief Jayne-Anne Gadhia told BBC Radio 4 listeners over the weekend that the bank’s brand was “dead”, the management team was tainted and that there were no guarantees on jobs if it became the new owner.
If jumping off a building is what Branson does to launch a new flight, what we wonder with baited breath, will Branson do to celebrate a successful takeover of Britain’s favourite mortgage lender?