With each passing day, the?COVID-19 pandemic post-lockdown recovery seems more ugly than what anyone expected just a month or so ago.?
Businesses are already hanging by a thread with many conglomerates furloughing their employees to make ends meet in these dark times. More US citizens have filed for unemployment in the last two months than the 2008 recession.?
However, amidst all this, there are some who are not giving up on their employees and are trying their best to retain everyone from their team, no matter what it takes. Such a story is of Richard Branson and his companies Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic.?
Reported first by Inc, he announced that he wants to sell 25 million shares of Virgin Galactic -- bringing his stake in the company from 59 percent to 45 percent. This move came within weeks after Branson mortgaged his Caribbean Island property -- setting an example of a CEO who is trying to do whatever it takes for taking care of its employees.
The offer for selling Virgin Galactic shares came right after Virgin Atlantic -- its airline company announced that it’ll lay off 3,150 employees in the coming months. What’s sadder is that employees? (a whopping 96 percent) had actually willingly sacrificed a part of their pay to avoid layoffs. But looks like it could only buy them time for a few weeks.
Virgin Galactic has managed to successfully conduct its first test flight with a passenger, however, it is still far from opening for business, allowing people to hop on for a journey to space. The share is at around $15 each for now.
Looking at the chaos caused by COVID-19, Virgin Atlantic has been asking for external funding in order to survive, and now Virgin Group along with its travel companies have issued a $250 million bailout.?
Recent reports also revealed that Virgin Atlantic is in talks with Deutsche Bank AG, among other institutions, about raising around $916 million to help it get through the pandemic.?