Virgin Galactic Planned to Sell $500 Million in Shares After Test Flight’s Success

On Monday, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. filed to sell $500 million worth of shares immediately following its first successful test flight that was conducted the day prior.

Virgin Galactic shares were reported to have gains of 8% before the markets opened in the US, but it went down 12% at the end of trading consequently taking away more than $1 billion from the firm’s market capitalization after the share sale was announced.

Founder Richard Branson was among the crew that was aboard Sunday’s test flight which also marked the company’s upper hand against its other space tourism competitors — also dubbed the “billionaire space race.”

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is expecting its first flight to space on July 20. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also among the companies looking to capitalize on space travel.

Space tourism is being forecast to become a $3 billion annual market by 2030 based on estimates observed by Swiss investment bank UBS. This optimism is evident in Virgin Galactic shares growing by close to 84% this year alone.

Branson’s company has expressed plans to conduct two additional test flights in the coming months in preparation for the beginning of its regular commercial operations in 2022.

Source: Reuters