Definitely the merger closes, Virgin Galactic will have a valuation of $1.5 billion, with SCH retaining a 49% leave. Branson confirmed that he will retain his majority stake even after the company lists, saying he has no plots to sell his shares.
“I will retain control of the company,” Branson said. “I will keep roughly 51%.”
Virgin Galactic initiator Richard Branson models the company’s new line of spacewear made by Under Armour.
CNBC | Michael Sheetz
Palihapitiya conducts Virgin Galactic as “a business that has software-like margins,” telling CNBC in July that he believes there is a “definitely compelling risk-reward” behind space tourism. UBS, in a March report, estimated that space tourism has a potential superstore of $3 billion a decade from now, even though it’s “still at a nascent phase.”
Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft can accomplish as many as six passengers, along with the two pilots, to the edge of space. The spaceship is dropped from a jet-powered aircraft and fires a go through the roof motor, reaching over three times the speed of sound as it climbs though the Earth’s atmosphere. Then the spacecraft and its voyagers float weightless for a few minutes, before gliding back down to land on Earth much like a traditional aircraft.
A ticket for a Virgin Galactic send off goes for about $250,000 per person, and the company has a list of 603 customers waiting to fly.
Expanding Virgin Galactic’s concern internationally
Virgin Galactic has testing facilities in California’s Mojave Desert and has an agreement with Spaceport America in New Mexico for the from the start commercial flights. But Branson says that’s just the beginning for the space tourism business, as the company is talking upon expanding across several continents.
“Abu Dhabi would like us to do a spaceport there, and we’re in discussions with them,” Branson intended. “Italy would like us to do a spaceport there. Great Britain wants us to do a spaceport. Australia talked to us about doing a spaceport.”
Virgin Galactic is also looking to arise operations “in a few other, Asian countries,” CEO George Whitesides said. But perhaps the most fascinating opportunity may be in Scandinavia, as the retinue is speaking to Sweden about flying into the region’s spectacular night sky.
“We’ve talked about going up into the Northern Alights,” Branson said. “It would be ridiculous.”
As for the company’s first commercial flights, Branson expects to be on the first one — yet left it a inscrutability as to who else will fly with him.
“We have an announcement to make, so I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Branson said. “Sometime next year I transfer be taking somebody up, but I will have to let you know.”