Branson tells US under-30 entrepreneurs why he doesn't want Trump as President
British billionaire Richard Branson told an audience of young entrepreneurs in Boston yesterday that he had been following the US Presidential election closely because it will have “major implications” all over the world. And the person he did not want to win was Mr Trump.
Branson in Boston yesterday
In a blog post on Virgin’website Branson had said earlier ,
“ Quite a few of my American friends, especially some very successful entrepreneurs, are registered Republicans. They have told me they are unable to vote for Donald Trump due to his extreme views, and his shocking ignorance of policy. .
“With that in mind, I wanted to share my view on why a Donald Trump presidency would be a disaster.”
Branson said that while he would like to see an entrepreneur in the White House, he does not want Trump to be elected. “There are many entrepreneurs who I would be delighted to see in power – just not this one,” he wrote.
Branson knows a thing or two about entrepreneurship, said the Forbes correspondent reporting from a packed Faneuil Hall at the start of the Under 30 conference which has drawn 6000 delegates to Boston. He dropped out of school at 17 for his first business venture, publishing a magazine called Student. Then in 1973, he started Virgin Records, which he sold nearly twenty years later for $1 billion to Thorn EMI.
Today, he owns a dozens of businesses under the Virgin brand name, including Virgin Airlines. FORBES estimates Branson’s net worth at $4.9 billion. That makes him $1.2 billion richer than the Republican nominee, whose net worth dropped $800 million over the past year to $3.7 billion, according to FORBES, partly due to the softening of New York City’s real estate market.
Branson wrote that he once told Trump that they disagreed on entrepreneurship when they met many years ago. Branson said his definition of what makes a great entrepreneur “involves being a good listener, putting others before oneself, being an effective delagator and striving to make a positive difference to the world.” Additionally, he wrote that entrepreneurs are good decision makers who know when to take risks.
“These are not characteristics I see in Mr Trump — neither in his previous business dealings, nor in this campaign,” Branson wrote. He criticized Trump’s stance on immigration and open borders, saying that an “entrepreneur president” would be focused on increasing jobs in the United Sates.
Branson said many of his American entrepreneur friends are refusing to vote for Trump, despite being registered Republicans. ”There are too many examples of Mr Trump’s lack of empathy and respect to name. I agree with many on both sides of America’s political aisle that he is unfit for office,” Branson wrote.
While she is not an entrepreneur, Branson described Hillary Clinton as “a safe pair of hands and a leader of supreme experience and knowhow.” Branson ended his post asking Americans to “vote for your future” and tweeted his blog post on Friday with the hashtag #ImWithHer