The daily business briefing: December 5, 2023

Virgin Galactic shares fall as Branson rules out further investment, Bitcoin jumps to 19-month high, and more

Sir Richard Branson
Sir Richard Branson wearing Virgin Galactic uniform
(Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)

1. Virgin Galactic stock drops

Virgin Galactic shares plunged as much as 16% on Monday after the space tourism company's founder, British billionaire Richard Branson, told the Financial Times he didn't plan to invest any more money in the venture because it already has "sufficient funds." Virgin Galactic this year flew its first paying customers to the edge of space for a brief taste of weightlessness. But the company has laid off 20% of its staff as it works on a new generation of rocket-powered suborbital planes called Delta that is expected to debut in 2026. "Virgin Galactic has got $1 billion, or nearly," Branson told the Financial Times. "It should, I believe, have sufficient funds to do its job on its own." Financial Times, CNN

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.