Richard Branson's $300 Million Stake Dump Torpedoes Virgin Galactic Shares Branson sold some of his Virgin Galactic ownership in order to fund other ventures.

Shares of Virgin Galactic fell 3% in premarket trading Friday after founder Sir Richard Branson sold an additional portion of his ownership in the space company. Through Virgin Investments, he sold 10.4 million shares at prices between $25.75 and $34.39, per a Thursday SEC filing, casting off a total worth of $300 million.

The move, which was designed to help him fund his other ventures, resulted in the 3% drop from Virgin Galactic's previous close of $25.94 per share.

Virgin Group is still the largest single shareholder in Virgin Galactic, though this stake sale is the third Branson has undertaken since Virgin Galactic went public through a SPAC in 2019. In July, just after Branson's initial space flight, the company announced in a regulatory filing that entered into an agreement to sell up to $500 million in stock at market prices.

Prior to going public, Virgin Galactic raised more than $1 billion in investments.