Sir Richard Branson waves out the window of spacecraft VSS Unity before launching on July 11, 2021.
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson sold more of his ownership of the space tourism company this week, dumping another huge stake to fund his other ventures.
Branson, through his Virgin Investments group, sold 10.4 million shares of Virgin Galactic this week at various prices, ranging between $25.75 a share and $34.39 a share, according to an SEC filing. The stake was worth $300 million in total, according to InsiderScore.com.
Shares of Virgin Galactic slid as much as 3% in trading on Friday from its previous close of $25.94 a share.
A Virgin Group statement said that Branson’s parent company “intends to use the net proceeds from this sale to support its portfolio of global leisure, holiday and travel businesses that continue to be affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to supporting the development and growth of new and existing businesses.
“The Virgin Group continues to be the largest single shareholder in Virgin Galactic,” the statement added.
The stake sale is Branson’s third since taking Virgin Galactic public through a SPAC in 2019, with his earlier sales worth $504.5 million and $150.3 million in May 2020 and April 2021, respectively. Branson has recouped more than $950 million of his investment in the space company through stake sales since taking it public. Virgin Galactic raised over $1 billion in investment before going public, according to an SEC filing.
Become a smarter investor with CNBC Pro.
Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV.
Sign up to start a free trial today.
