Virgin Galactic shares took place on Friday after President Chamath Palihapitiya cashed in for about $ 213 million.
Shares of Richard Branson’s space exploration company fell 21 percent to a low of $ 23.95 after Palihapitiya, a prominent venture capitalist, revealed it had abandoned the last 6.2 million shares in its portfolio. his staff.
The stock was recently up about 13% at $ 26.45 as of 2:10 p.m.
Virgin Galactic’s stock price doubled earlier this year, but almost wiped out those gains on February 11th.
Palihapitiya previously reduced its stake in the company by 3.8 million shares in December to release cash for new projects. He told Business Insider that the proceeds from the latest sale would go “into a big investment in climate change.”
“The details of this investment will be made public in the coming months,” the head of Social Capital said in a statement. “I remain as dedicated as ever to the Virgin Galactic team, mission and prospects.”
Palihapitiya and business partner Ian Osborne indirectly own approximately 16 million shares in the spacecraft builder through an investment firm called SCH Sponsor Corp. The pair helped the Virgin Galactic audience in 2019 by merging with their special purpose procurement company, Social Capital Hedosophia.
Virgin Galactic completed its first missile flight from its New Mexico spaceport in December and plans to eventually take paying customers into space.
More than 600 people have bought tickets for flights where they will be able to see the Earth and experience the weight.
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