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- Chamath Palihapitiya unveiled his personal stake in Virgin Galactic this week.
- The chairman of the space tourism group sold 6.2 million shares for about $ 211 million.
- Palihapitiya still indirectly owns 15.8 million shares in the beginning of Richard Branson.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya sold his entire personal stake in Virgin Galactic this week, a government dossier revealed on Friday.
The chairman of the space tourism industry paid in his 6.2 million shares at an average price of $ 35, earning him about $ 211 million. Palihapitiya, along with its business partner Ian Osborne, still indirectly owns 15.8 million shares via SCH Sponsor Corp, their investment vehicle.
“I have sold 6 million shares for $ 200 million, which I intend to divert to a major investment I am making to fight climate change,” Palihapitiya said in an email to Insider.
“The details of this investment will be made public in the next few months. I remain just as committed to Virgin Galactic’s team, mission and prospects,” added the founder and CEO of Social Capital.
Palihapitiya sold 3.8 million Virgin Galactic shares earlier in December, tweet that he had to release cash to fund several new projects this year.
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson’s spatial startup was announced in October 2019 by merging with Palihapitiya and Osborne’s Social Capital Hedosophia, a special acquisition vehicle or SPAC.
Palihapitiya is spearheading the current SPAC boom, using the vehicles to take on companies like Opendoor and Clover Health at billion-dollar valuations.
Virgin Galactic’s share price more than doubled in the first five weeks of this year, but has since fallen by more than 50%. Its shares fell up to 17% on Friday.
Here is a chart showing the share price of Virgin Galactic over the past year:
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