Investor Chamath Palihapitiya cashed out his entire personal stake in Virgin Galactic for $211 million

<p><strong><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/6041ffb3715c580018242f0b-2400/gettyimages-615649324.jpg" border="0" alt="Chamath Palihapitiya" data-mce-source="Getty Images"></strong></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><ul><li><strong>Chamath Palihapitiya cashed out his personal stake in Virgin Galactic this week.</strong></li><li><strong>The space-tourism group's chairman sold 6.2 million shares for about $211 million.</strong></li><li><strong>Palihapitiya still indirectly owns 15.8 million shares in Richard Branson's startup.</strong></li><li><strong><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/">Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories</a>.</strong></strong><hr></li></ul><p>Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya sold his entire personal stake in <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/spce-stock">Virgin Galactic</a>&nbsp;this week, a <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1706946/000170694621000028/0001706946-21-000028-index.htm">regulatory filing</a> revealed on Friday.</p><p>The space-tourism company's chairman cashed out his 6.2 million shares at an average price of $35, netting him around $211 million. Palihapitiya, along with his business partner Ian Osborne, still indirectly own 15.8 million shares via SCH Sponsor Corp, their investment vehicle.</p><p>Palihapitiya previously sold 3.8 million Virgin Galactic shares in December, <a href="https://twitter.com/chamath/status/1339425375063953409">tweeting</a> that he needed to free up cash to fund several new projects this year.</p><p>Virgin Group founder Richard Branson's space startup went public in October 2019 by merging with Palihapitiya and Osborne's Social Capital Hedosophia, a special-purpose acquisition vehicle or SPAC.</p><p>Palihapitiya is spearheading the current SPAC boom, using the vehicles to take companies such as Opendoor and Clover Health public at billion-dollar valuations.</p><p>Virgin Galactic's stock price more than doubled in the first five weeks of this year, but has slumped by more than 40% since then. Its shares fell as much as 4% in pre-market trading on Friday.</p><p><strong>Here's a chart showing Virgin Galactic's stock price over the past year:</strong></p><p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/6042014a715c580018242f0d-912/VGChart050321.png" border="0" alt="VG_Chart_050321" data-mce-source="Markets Insider"></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chamath-palihapitiya-sells-virgin-galactic-personal-stake-211-million-2021-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-symphony-seas-worlds-largest-cruise-ship-deals-with-waste-2020-3">How waste is dealt with on the world's largest cruise ship</a></p>
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