Virgin Galactic Files For $500 Mn Stock Sale, shares Tumble a day after Branson’s Successful Flight into space. Elon Musk Buys a ticket to Space too!
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc filed to sell up to $500 million in common stock. That also a day after the company completed its first fully crewed test flight into space with billionaire founder Richard Branson on board.
Billionaire Elon Musk books ride to edge of space with Branson’s Virgin Galactic.
The company’s shares
Shares in Virgin Galactic reversed premarket gains of 8% to trade down nearly 12%.
So, it is wiping off more than $1 billion from the company’s market capitalization following the share sale announcement.
The sale would account for up to 4% of Virgin Galactic’s total outstanding shares as of their last close, according to calculation.
Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos is next!
Branson’s trip upstaged rival astro-tourism venture Blue Origin founded by Jeff Bezos. He is the former chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc. And, is slated to fly to space on July 20 along with his brother, Mark.
The Billionaires’ Space Race
The rivalry popularized as the “billionaire space race” also includes SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
And, this is underpinned by optimism that space travel will become mainstream with technological advancements and falling costs.
Swiss Bank
Swiss investment bank UBS estimates space tourism could be a $3 billion annual market by 2030.
That sentiment has also led to shares in Virgin Galactic surging nearly 84% so far this year.
Elon Musk buys a ticket to space
A Virgin Galactic spokesperson on told the Wall Street Journal that Musk had bought a ticket for his own space ride with Branson’s company.
Branson, revealed Musk had made a $10,000 deposit to secure a ride on a future flight.
However, SpaceX is yet to comment on the development.
“The Big day!”
Musk was present at the Spaceport America facility in the Mojave desert when Branson soared to suborbital space at Mach 3 and returned safely.
“Elon’s a friend, and maybe I’ll travel on one of his ships one day,” the 70-year-old Branson told the media.
Ahead of his flight, Musk had met Branson, who tweeted, “Big day ahead. Great to start the morning with a friend. Feeling good, feeling excited, feeling ready.”
Next Plans of the company
Virgin Galactic has said it plans at least two further test flights of the spaceplane in the months ahead before beginning regular commercial operation in 2022.
Information Source: Reuters
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