Things are looking up for Virgin Mobile’s U.S. business, which is a joint venture of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group Ltd. and Sprint Nextel. Virgin Mobile USA Inc. has raised its IPO offering to $506 million five times the original target. Part of the appeal is that the youth market has really embraced this MVNO brand, which was formed in 2002, and has successfully targeted customers under the age of 35.

The money raised by the IPO will be used to cut debt and pay money owned to Sprint. Virgin Mobile USA had 4.88 million customers at the end of March, and first quarter net income jumped to $15.4 million from a mere $3.38 million only a year earlier. Clearly the youth have spoken about Virgin.

Virgin Mobile USA Boosts Initial Sale to $506 Million [Bloomberg]