Virgin Records, Ltd. is a record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell and Tom Newman in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, The Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Lenny Kravitz, dc Talk, The Smashing Pumpkins, Mike Oldfield, Spice Girls and more on their list of artists. It was later sold to Thorn EMI in 1992. Its American operations were merged with Capitol Records in 2007 to create the Capitol Music Group. Currently owned by Universal Music Group after its purchase of EMI in 2012, UMG reorganised its British operations to create Virgin EMI Records on March 2013, which absorbed Mercury Records UK.EMI Music | Universal Music UK launches Virgin EMI Records