By Feuer
Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson sold almost $300 million worth of his shares in the space tourism company this week as he continued to shave his stake in the company to fund his other ventures that have been hit hard by the pandemic.
Branson, through his Virgin Investments firm, dumped more than 10.4 million shares in Virgin Galactic – about 4 percent of the company – over three days this week for total proceeds of just under $300 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shares of Virgin Galactic were last seen trading about 2 percent lower on the news of the sale.
It’s the third time Branson has sold shares in Virgin Galactic since it went public through a merger with a SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, in 2019.
He sold nearly half a billion dollars worth of shares in the company in May of last year as the pandemic hammered his other ventures, which include a cruise line, airline and hotels.
Branson then sold an additional $150 million worth of Virgin Galactic stock in April.
The latest share sale comes just one month after Branson became the first billionaire to fly to space, beating world’s richest man Jeff Bezos by a week, in a space race that boosted shares of his space company.
Branson’s Virgin Investments is still one of the biggest shareholders of the space tourism company with a stake of about 18 percent, or 46.3 million shares worth roughly $1.2 billion as of the stock’s last closing price.
A representative for Virgin Group said in a statement 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.
Virgin Galactic chairman Chamath Palihapitiya sold his entire personal stake in the company for about $213 million in March.
