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Virgin Galactic (SPCE) shares tank 18% on opportunistic $500 million secondary offering

While Richard Branson's expedition may have taken him to outer space, Virgin Galactic's (SPCE) stock is experiencing the exact opposite.

Donovan Erskine

July 12, 2021 2:40 PM

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There’s been an odd amount of conversation surrounding filthy rich businessmen making the journey into space, from Amazon and Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos to Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson. The latter actually just made his expedition into outer space this past weekend, aboard a commercial flight. Though the spaceflight was a success, it may not have had the larger impact that Branson and company were hoping for. Virgin Galactic (SPCE) shares are down 18 percent following the flight and the company’s move to sell $500 million of its stock.

It was reported by CNBC on July 12 that Virgin Galactic (SPCE) stock was suffering following the market’s open on Monday morning. Specifically, Virgin Galactic's (SPCE) value is down by 18 percent. Virgin Galactic had actually filed to sell $500 million of its stock in a secondary offering, a move to take advantage of what they had hoped would be a successful time for the stock.

When you bought Virgin Galactic pre market pic.twitter.com/BQlvIDdJWK

— Jerome Powell (@alifarhat79) July 12, 2021

With Richard Branson’s commercial spaceflight making countless headlines over the weekend, many had imagined that all the buzz would translate to a nice bump in value to the stock upon markets opening back up on Monday. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the exact opposite of the case. More so, Virgin Galactic might have made matters a bit worse on itself by filing to sell up to $500 million in secondary offerings.

Virgin Galactic (SPCE) is down 18 percent as of today, following founder Richard Branson's flight to outer space. It’s bad news for anybody that took the event as an opportunity to scoop up some stock. We’ll have to wait and see if Blue Origin meets a similar fate following Jeff Bezos' upcoming space expedition.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_