Virgin owner prepares for U.S. wireless launch

Virgin Group tycoon Richard Branson is selling off parts of his privately held empire to fund the expansion of Virgin Mobile into the U.S., according to UK media reports.

Branson has reportedly raised $130 million for its US launch through sales of its Virgin Megastores in France. Virgin Group also has other assets up for sale such as its London professional Rugby team and Virgin.net, an Internet portal run by Virgin and NTL.

Virgin UK turned its first profit in August after little more than a year in operations. Branson now plans to take his virtual-network concept to the U.S. Virgin Group and Sprint PCS are negotiating an agreement in which Virgin would resell Sprint minutes over a Virgin-branded service. Sprint and Virgin have committed $50 million each to the venture, and Reuters reported Thursday that a third investor would likely be announced soon.

--Kevin Fitchard, staff writer