The British tycoon is reported to have approached the Down Under group, giving rise to speculation that he is looking to buy local radio stations.
WorldAudio owns Sydney station Radio 2 -- "The New Voice of Sydney's West" -- which broadcasts to around 2.4m people.
More significantly, the group is currently planning to establish a national local commercial radio network in Australia that, once rolled out, will reach an estimated 12m.
The publicly quoted Australian company confirmed it had been approached, but said there had been no detailed talks.
In a statement, WorldAudio said: "The company has sent information currently in the public domain in relation to its business plan and financial status to the Virgin Group."
The news sparked a jump in WorldAudio shares earlier this week. A report in the Australian Financial Review newspaper said Branson was considering buying 50% of the company.
Sir Richard was in Australia last week to launch his discount airline Virgin Blue.
WorldAudio managing director Andrew Thompson said: "If he is [interested], then it is interesting speculation, but I don't know that he is. I haven't spoken to him directly, no. But I think WorldAudio with its Radio 2 network has some interesting synergy with the business plan that has been quoted in the press of Virgin and its radio deployment."
The Review said that Branson had previously signalled an interest in expanding Virgin's interests in Australia through radio.
Sir Richard launched Virgin Radio, which operates in London as an FM station and nationally in the UK on AM, in 1993.
The move into radio Down Under would see Virgin go up against British rival Daily Mail & General Trust, which has extensive radio interests in the southern hemisphere.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
