Richard Branson cashed in $41 million of Virgin Galactic stock last week to lift his ailing travel businesses

• Richard Branson sold off nearly 2.6 million Virgin Galactic shares last week to support struggling Virgin Group ventures.
• The billionaire's investment company, Vieco 10, dumped more than $41 million of the space-travel firm's stock between May 14 and May 15, according to a Monday regulatory filing.
• The sales come days after Virgin Group announced plans to sell as many as 25 million Virgin Galactic shares to help travel, leisure, and holiday ventures hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
• Watch Virgin Galactic trade live here.

Richard Branson dumped nearly 2.6 million Virgin Galactic shares to aid his struggling travel and leisure ventures.

Vieco 10, an investment company owned by Branson's Virgin Group, offloaded more than $41 million of the space-travel company's stock between May 14 and May 15, according to a Monday regulatory filing. The cashed-in stake equates to roughly 2% of Virgin Galactic.

Branson's investment firm still holds more than 112 million shares.

Bloomberg first reported on Branson's stock sale.

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The sales arrive days after Virgin Group announced plans to sell as many as 25 million Virgin Galactic shares to aid ventures slammed by the coronavirus pandemic. Much of the group's leisure, holiday, and travel businesses have seen an "unprecedented impact" from the health crisis, the company said in a statement.

The May 11 announcement saw Virgin Galactic shares dive as much as 8.3% in intraday trading.

Branson pledged in late April to sell a Caribbean island if additional funds are needed to keep his businesses afloat.

"As with other Virgin assets, our team will raise as much money against the island as possible to save as many jobs as possible around the Group," the billionaire wrote in an April 20 blog post.

Virgin Galactic traded at $15.95 per share as of 10:50 a.m. ET Tuesday, up roughly 39% year-to-date.

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