Virgin Galactic Stock Plummets. It’s All About a Fundraising.

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Virgin Galactic

stock fell around 18% Friday after the space-tourism company said it would raise up to $400 million through the sale of common shares to fund development of its spaceship fleet.

In a Thursday filing 

Virgin Galactic

(ticker: SPCE) also said the proceeds would be used to help scale its commercial operations. The offering follows the successful completion of an “at the market” offering of $300 million.

The stock has soared in recent days after the company last week announced details of its first commercial flight into space. It had said in a statement that Galactic 01 will fly between June 27 and June 30. Before that announcement the stock was trading around $4.06 but then peaked at $6.01 and has since fallen back to $5.32.

The stock has been volatile—the start of commercial flights has taken longer than investors had hoped. In July 2021, when founder Richard Branson and others completed a test flight, the stock was trading around $50. But technical and regulatory problems caused the delays.

Write to Rupert Steiner at rupert.steiner@barrons.com