Here's How Much Chamath Palihapitiya, Cathie Wood Lost By Selling SPCE Early

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc SPCE was the big story of the weekend with founder Sir Richard Branson traveling to space aboard the Unity 22 and getting the company another step closer to taking passengers to space. Two big company backers sold big chunks of shares earlier this year and missed out on some strong gains.

Chamath Sells Personal Stake: In March, it was announced that Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya sold the rest of his personal stake in the company. On March 2 and March 3, Palihapitiya sold 6.2 million shares of SPCE at an average of around $35 a share.

The transaction followed Palihapitiya selling 3.8 million shares of SPCE in December at an average sale price of $26.11.

Based on a price of $51.04 on Monday morning, Palihapitiya’s December stake sold would be worth $193.95 million compared to $99.2 million at the time of the sale, missing out on potential gains of $94.7 million.

Palihapitiya’s March sale would be worth $316.45 million today compared to $217 million at the time of the sale, missing out on gains of $99.45 million.

Don’t feel too bad for Palihapitiya — he still owns an indirect stake of 15.75 million SPCE shares via Social Capital Hedosophia which took the company public via SPAC. That stake is worth $803.88 million today.

Related Link: Richard Branson Traveled To The Edge Of Space, Here's How You Could Get A Future Ticket With A $5 Donation

Ark Funds Sells out of SPCE: One of the biggest backers of Virgin Galactic was Ark Invest and Cathie Wood. The ETF group owned stakes in SPCE in both the Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF ARKQ and Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF ARKX.

From January through May, Ark Funds sold over 3.4 million shares of Virgin Galactic. The sales began on Jan. 27 with shares around $39 and continued all the way to May 26 with shares around $27.

Coincidentally, Ark Invest also bought over 735,000 shares of SPCE in March and April around a range of $24 to $27.

The 3.4 million shares sold by Ark Funds would be worth $173.54 million today, likely far greater than what they were sold for earlier this year.

Wood took time to congratulate Branson and the Virgin Galactic team on Twitter on Sunday.

Price Action: Shares of SPCE are down 12.06% to $43.22 Monday at publication.

Disclosure: Author is long SPCE shares.

Photo: Unity 22 during flight July 11, 2021, via Virgin Galactic)