Necker Island (British Virgin Islands) world, the challenge begins at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with the top 10 new innovations progressing to the finals at Necker Island where Branson joins the judging panel along with technology figures and investors from Silicon Valley. The Necker Cup, an exhibition tennis tournament held at the end of the tennis season, has been held on the island annually since 2012. In February 2017, former U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle visited Necker as guests of Sir Richard Branson. On August 22, 2011, The Great House burned down in a blaze believed to be
Jacques Necker or falsifying the records. He brightened the picture by excluding military outlays and other 'extraordinary' charges and ignoring the national debt. As a specific example his compte rendu showed the king spend more on his brothers than on public health. After Necker had shown Louis XVI his annual report, the king tried to keep its contents secret. In revenge, Necker made the "Compte rendu au roi" public; in no time between 200,000 copies were sold. The Account was meant to be an educational piece for the people, and in it, he expressed his desire to create a well-informed, interested populace.