Virgin Galactic to run as a critical infrastructure business during pandemic

[April 13, 2020]    (Reuters) - Billionaire Richard Branson's space tourism company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc <SPCE.N> will keep running as a critical infrastructure business, even as many U.S. states in which it operates have mandated business closures during the coronavirus outbreak.

Virgin Galactic (SPCE) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as the company begins public trading in New York, U.S., October 28, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

"We are an aerospace manufacturer with defense and government contracts and therefore categorized as a Critical Infrastructure business," a company spokeswoman told Reuters in an emailed statement.

The company, which aims to offer the first commercial space flight later this year with Branson on board, added that a vast majority of its workforce is working from home.

Virgin Galactic's net losses widened to $73 million in the fourth quarter from $46 million in the year-ago period, it reported in its first financial results as a publicly traded company in February.

Blue Origin, founded by Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O> Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, is also racing to be the first to offer suborbital flights to fare-paying thrill seekers.

Virgin Galactic went public after merging in October with Social Capital Hedosophia, the special-purpose acquisition vehicle run by early Facebook Inc <FB.O> executive and venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya.

Separately, Branson is seeking 500 million pounds ($619.36 million) from the British government to bail out his Virgin Atlantic airline during the virus outbreak.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Chang)

[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.