Virgin Galactic Shares Tumble After Billionaire Branson’s Selling Spree

Virgin Galactic Shares Tumble After Billionaire Branson’s Selling Spree

Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.Gerelyn TerzoAugust 13, 2021, 3:52 PM·2 min readIn this article: Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.

Virgin Galactic shares came under pressure on Friday, falling 2% to just over USD 25 per share. For the week, the stock has shaved off nearly one-third of its value.

Founder Richard Branson via Virgin Investments cashed in more than 10 million shares in recent days, raking in USD 300 million in the interim. Branson’s share sale comes weeks after Virgin Galactic completed its maiden spaceflight with a full crew including the billionaire himself.

According to reports, Branson plans to direct the proceeds from the share sale toward the company’s languishing leisure and travel units, which are still dealing with the fallout from COVID-19. In addition, the funds will go toward other ventures, including those that are new or already established.

Branson hasn’t totally cashed out of Virgin Galactic and still owns more than 46 million shares, which at the current share price is worth more than USD 1 billion. Nonetheless, Branson has been on somewhat of a selling spree and also unloaded more than USD 150 million worth of shares in the spring, when the stock was trading in a similar range.

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