Sorry for the pun, but Virgin was stuffed from the start by an antiquated Board structure populated by dickheads. It still is - until it’s sold or wound up.
Specifically, JB and Scurrah are/were “Managing Directors” which is a disaster waiting to happen. There is a huge conflict of interest between the role of “manager” and Director. The Directors job is to safeguard the assets and the interests of the shareholders. The managers role is to use the assets to make money.
The key here is risk. The Director MUST ensure that risk is managed to protect the assets. The manager has to accept risk to make money. The whole business plan/strategy thing is about balancing risk and return. If the Board and the manager cannot come to agreement or the manager screws up, then the manager is fired by the board.
Now if you have an MD, the poor board can’t even have a private conversation about the performance of the manager, let alone sack the MD. The roles are hopelessly conflicted. That’s why JB was there until he felt like leaving. If he was a CEO and not a Board member, the Board could have given him three years or else.
As for the staff cuts, that simply demonstrates weak and inexperienced management. You cut FIRST, then you tell the remaining people to get busy and restructure to cope with the work. To do otherwise gives the drones more time to burrow in, make more work for themselves and prove how essential they are. They are then almost impossible to remove.
To put that another way, why do you think that a football coach is always an employee of the club and not a member of the board of directors?