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
Richard Branson boxes and wastepaper bins. In London he started off squatting between 1967 and 1968. After failed attempts to grow and sell both Christmas trees and budgerigars, Branson launched his first successful business, a magazine named Student, in 1966. The first issue of "Student" appeared in January 1968, and a year later, Branson's net worth was estimated at £50,000. Branson started his record business from the church where he ran "Student" magazine. He interviewed several prominent personalities of the late 1960s for the magazine including Mick Jagger and R. D. Laing. Branson advertised popular records in "Student", and it was an