Tycoon Richard Branson quit school at 15. Principal said ‘you’re either going to jail…’

Richard Branson

Those who knew British tycoon Richard Branson as a child were sure he would either go on to make it big or get into trouble.

In a recent podcast interview, the Virgin Group founder revealed he was an enterprising teen. At 15, he started a student magazine.

He managed to raise $3,000 to cover the printing and manufacturing costs by persuading companies to take out ads. Then, he decided to drop out of school to focus on the magazine full-time, Branson said during an episode of the "Armchair Expert" podcast.

The headmaster of his school was stunned by his decision.

He told him: "You’re either going to prison or you’re going to become a millionaire".

Branson said he was inspired to start "Student Magazine" to give "young people a voice out of their frustration."

He felt what was being taught in schools was irrelevant to 90 percent of the students.

Branson said in school, he wanted to learn about the Vietnam War and not geometry.

“There are a lot of things I love to learn about, but not the things that the maths teachers are teaching me or the French teachers are teaching me," he said during the podcast.

Branson also discussed his struggles with dyslexia, saying he felt lost during complicated school lessons.

The billionaire has said his dyslexia shaped his enterprises from the outset.

"It helped me think big, but keep our messages simple," Branson wrote in a blog in 2019. "The business world often gets caught up in facts and figures; and while the details and data are important, the ability to dream, conceptualise and innovate is what sets the successful and the unsuccessful apart."

Branson started Virgin as a record retailer in 1970. Over the years, he built a conglomerate that has presence across diverse sectors - travel, leisure  telecommunications, health, and banking.

He owns the airline Virgin Atlantic and space tourism company Virgin Galactic.

Branson's net worth is estimated to be $3.7 billion.