Richard Branson has sold $1.4 billion Virgin Galactic stake during the pandemic

Richard Branson sold another $US300 million ($421 million) in Virgin Galactic stock, tapping his biggest listed asset again to prop up a business empire that’s been suffering during the coronavirus pandemic.

The billionaire offloaded 15.6 million shares — about 6 per cent of the space-travel company — through a company he controls, leaving him with an 11.9 per cent interest, according to a regulatory filing. The move takes his total Virgin Galactic sales beyond $US1 billion ($1.4 billion) since the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The proceeds will support Branson’s travel and leisure businesses, as well as help develop new and existing ventures, a Virgin Group representative said. The 71-year-old billionaire remains Virgin Galactic’s biggest shareholder with a stake worth almost $US600 million, based on its closing share price on Monday.

The Virgin brand Branson founded as a mail-order retailer in 1970 has since become linked to more than 40 businesses worldwide — from record labels to soft drinks and British bank Virgin Money UK.

Virgin Galactic’s stock has tumbled 20 per cent this year, partly due to delays for the start of its commercial flights. Still, the shares have risen more than 60 per cent since the firm began trading publicly after merging in 2019 with a special purpose acquisition company set up by Chamath Palihapitiya, its now chairman. Palihapitiya, who’s another large holder of the space-travel firm, sold $US213 million in Virgin Galactic stock in March.

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Richard Branson sold $US300 million in stock in August and $US150 million four months earlier after raising more than $US300 million in the first half of 2020 to help other Virgin Group units through the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis. He has a net worth of about $US6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Virgin Atlantic Airways – the company most responsible for building his global brand – was rescued from the brink of collapse last year with a £1.2 billion ($2.1 billion) package that included about £200 million from Branson.

Virgin Galactic, based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, expects to be flying paying passengers to space three times a month in 2023.