Don’t Become Goliath, Break Your Company Into Smaller Factions, Says Richard Branson

The best thing for a massive company to do is to break up into two or three new companies, Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire co-founder of multinational venture capital conglomerate the Virgin Group, said Thursday at the Business Is an Adventure event in Tel Aviv. The event, which took place at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, was co-hosted by Calcalist. The event was also held in conjunction with the launch of the daily Tel Aviv to London Heathrow route by Branson’s airline, the Virgin Atlantic. The service was launched last month.

Speaking about the importance of splitting up larger companies into smaller factions, Branson offered practical advice. “Have two or three new managing directors, and have two or three new sales managers, so each of those companies can get out there and you can be small and nimble again,” Branson said.

“Not taking yourself too seriously is another really important thing for branding,” Branson added.

Branson was joined on stage by a panel of high-level Israeli executives, including Gil Shwed, co-founder and CEO of Nasdaq-listed network and cloud security company Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.; Avishai Abrahami, co-founder and CEO of Tel Aviv-based Nasdaq-listed website building company Wix.com Ltd.; Ofra Strauss, chairperson of the board of directors of Israeli food and beverage manufacturer Strauss Group Inc.; and Omer Bar-Yohay, CEO of Israel-based aviation company Eviation Aircraft Ltd.