Richard Branson said his Virgin Group's value probably shrank by a third because of the Brexit vote and he said he doesn't believe the public understood the impact the decision would have on Britain's economy, reported the
Daily Mail.
Branson made the comments on ITV's "Good Morning Britain," and called on the British Parliament to take "a second look" at the referendum, describing its aftermath "a mess."
"I don't believe the public realized what a mess their vote would cost," Branson said. "Bank shares, some of them have gone down by as much as 50 percent, two trillion got wiped off the global stock markets, the pound has collapsed to its lowest level in 30 years, and we will go into recession unless we can actually send signals to the world very quickly that we're going to do something about it."
Branson said while Virgin was hit hard financially by the vote, he didn't believe his company was worse off then any other business.
"… I suspect we've lost a third of our value which is dreadful for people in the workplace," Branson said. "We were about to do a very big deal, we cancelled that deal, that would have involved 3,000 jobs, and that's happening all over the country."
CNN said shares in Virgin Money, a United Kingdom financial service of the Virgin Group, tumbled 41 percent since Thursday's vote. Virgin Atlantic airlines could also take a hit as there are questions about its access to European Union aviation agreements with the United States.
"The Virgin Group is concerned by the ongoing instability and this will impact new expansion in the next few years in the U.K.," a Virgin representative told CNN Money.
Forbes magazine said Branson, 65, is worth about $4.9 billion and owns a conglomerate of businesses under the Virgin brand, including Virgin Galactic, which is attempting to launch a space tourism business. He sold Virgin Records in 1992 for $1 billion.
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