Branson sells off more of his Virgin Galactic stock
He’s getting out while the getting is good: In the past three days Richard Branson sold another $150 million worth of his Virgin Galactic stock.
The stock price for these sales was about $27, more than twice the value when the company went public in November 2019.
Including his stock sales in May ’20, Branson has now sold about 30% of his share in the company, leaving him holding only about a 20% share. Essentially, Virgin Galactic is no longer his company.
Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic now says it will not begin tourist flights until ’22. Whether it can survive that long is another question. It certainly hasn’t delivered on any of Branson’s endless grandiose promises, beginning almost two decades ago in 2005.
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He’s getting out while the getting is good: In the past three days Richard Branson sold another $150 million worth of his Virgin Galactic stock.
The stock price for these sales was about $27, more than twice the value when the company went public in November 2019.
Including his stock sales in May ’20, Branson has now sold about 30% of his share in the company, leaving him holding only about a 20% share. Essentially, Virgin Galactic is no longer his company.
Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic now says it will not begin tourist flights until ’22. Whether it can survive that long is another question. It certainly hasn’t delivered on any of Branson’s endless grandiose promises, beginning almost two decades ago in 2005.
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar below. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
Your support is even more essential to me because I keep this site free from advertisements and do not participate in corrupt social media companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. I depend wholly on the direct support of my readers.
You can provide that support to Behind The Black with a contribution via Patreon or PayPal. To use Patreon, go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. For PayPal click one of the following buttons:
If Patreon or Paypal don't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
More from Mr Pump N Dump
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_and_dump
Branson was in on the ground floor of private space tourism, but couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make it work. I have a feeling his heart was never really into it. It was all a scam for him.
Robert wrote: “Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic now says it will not begin tourist flights until ’22.”
Virgin Galactic has been having year for year slips for several years, now. This indicates that no real progress is being made and is a serious problem for any company hoping to deliver a product as a revenue source.
I doubt that Branson founded Virgin Galactic as a scam, but after discovering technical problems more than a decade ago, he seems to have been unwilling to make the tradeoffs necessary to overcome those problems. What I don’t understand is why the other owners are content with the year for year slips and the continued lack of interest in problem solving.
Fortunately, we have companies such as NanoRacks, Rocket Lab, Sierra Nevada, and SpaceX that are clearly interested in doing actual business in space.
Stratolaunch could carry a Blackhorse sized rocketplane without hybrid motors.