Richard Branson Sells More Virgin Galactic Shares, Company Responds

Richard Branson has sold more of his stake in his space tourism company Virgin Galactic.

Branson sold 10.4 million shares of Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE) this week at various prices ranging between $25.75 and $34.39 a share for a total of almost $300 million, according to an SEC filing and as reported by Reuters. As a result of the sale, shares of the company dropped over 3%.

As of 12:01 p.m. EST on Friday, shares were down by 1.27%.

Branson sold more than 10 million shares between Aug. 10 and 12. The latest sales leave the multi-billionaire with 46.3 million shares worth roughly $1.2 billion. Branson’s Virgin investments are one of the biggest shareholders of the space tourism company and have a stake of about 22% as of June.

Virgin Group issued a statement saying Branson’s company “intends to use the 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 existing businesses.”

The Virgin Group continues to be the largest single shareholder of Virgin Galactic.

This recent sale marks Branson’s third since taking Virgin Galactic public in 2019 with his earlier sales earning him $504.5 million and $150.3 million in May 2020 and April 2021, respectively, reports CNBC. Branson has recouped $950 million of his investment in the company via stake sales.