[ad_1]
(Bloomberg) – Chamath Palihapitiya, the billionaire investor who has helped the unbridled growth of blank check companies, has sold his personal stake in the space tourism company founded by Richard Branson, raising $ 213 million.
Palihapitiya sold 6.2 million shares at an average price of $ 34.32 this week, based on a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He still holds 15.8 million shares with his partner Ian Osborne via the investment company Social Capital Hedosophia, or around 6.5% of the capital. Palihapitiya previously sold shares worth nearly $ 100 million in December, according to the documents filed.
Read more: King of PSPC wants you to know he’s the next Warren Buffett
Shares of Virgin Galactic have risen about 150% since the Las Cruces, New Mexico-based company merged with Social Capital’s first SPAC in 2019. However, the stock has slipped nearly 50% by compared to its peak last month and fell 4.9% to $ 28.81 at 9:33 am in New York City.
Palihapitiya has since started blank check companies that have merged with health insurance, financial services and real estate companies including Opendoor Technologies Inc. and Clover Health Investments Corp.
Along the way, Palihapitiya, 44, made a fortune for himself and his investors. The former Facebook Inc. executive has raised more than $ 4 billion through blank check companies, using social media to talk about investments and becoming one of the most prominent figures in the PSPC phenomenon, which has everyone from Colin Kaepernick to former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is running to market theirs.
He’s also a lightning rod for skeptics who dismiss his success as the product of self-promotion and view blank check companies as evidence of a bubble inflated by government money printing.
A month ago, Palihapitiya said it would only be in the rarest of circumstances that he would reduce his holdings in any PSPC.
“If I could really go, I wouldn’t sell a share of everything I buy because I believe in it,” he said Feb. 8 in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Front Row”. “But every now and then, I run into liquidity constraints, like everyone else.”
At the time, Palihapitiya had just sold 3.8 million Virgin Galactic shares. He said he did it because his family office called to need cash for other purposes.
Falling shares
Social Capital’s merger with Virgin Galactic – of which Palihapitiya is chairman – made start-up Branson the world’s first publicly traded space travel company. The deal raised around $ 800 million, with Palihapitiya also directly contributing $ 100 million.
While stocks have surged from the listing, they have fallen 49% since February’s decision to delay the next flight to space. The new schedule also pushed back plans to transport Branson, 70, on a separate mission in the first quarter. Virgin Galactic has a current market value of $ 7.2 billion.
The company announced on Thursday the departure of its space manager, George Whitesides, saying he has decided to seize potential opportunities in the public service. Whitesides, who served as chief executive for a decade until July 2020, will remain chairman of a four-person space advisory committee.
Although Virgin Galactic has hundreds of customers lined up to pay at least $ 250,000 for a 90-minute flight to the edge of space, the journey has been slow since the company was founded in 2004. Plans have been put on hold. for four years in 2014. after a mid-air spaceplane ruptured, killing one pilot and injuring another.
(Updates with the share price in the third paragraph.)
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted source of business news.
© 2021 Bloomberg LP
Source link
