Branson’s Virgin Galactic space-tourism business to go public

Virgin Galactic rocket plane, the WhiteKnightTwo carrier airplane, with SpaceShipTwo passenger craft takes off from Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, on Feb 22, 2019. Reuters

SYDNEY/LONDON (Bloomberg): Billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic aims to go public later this year and become the world’s first listed space-tourism venture.

A stake in Virgin Galactic will be sold to a shell company that already trades on the New York Stock Exchange, raising about US$800mil as the project nears its first commercial flights, a person familiar with the matter said.