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
Frederick Woodward Branson as Haw, Reynolds, & Co. In 1883, Fredrick W Branson joined the business. with Richard Reynolds at Leeds, England. Richard Reynolds took on Fredrick W Branson as a partner in the established company. An 1884 advertisement listed the partnership between Reynolds & Branson ( late Harvey, Reynolds & co.) The firm of Reynolds & Branson was registered in July 1898 as a limited corporation with a capital of £34,000 in shares of £10 each by Messrs. R. Reynolds, F. W. Branson and R. F. Reynolds being the first. No remuneration was given to Mr. R. Reynolds, but a £700 each