Skip to footer

Virgin America IPO raises $307 million: Shares begin trading Friday

Virgin America shares will trade on the Nasdaq stock market under the ticker symbol 'VA.'

|
Bob Riha, Jr./Virgin America/AP/File
Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson (r.), Virgin America Chairman Don Carty (c.), and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings welcome guests after arriving on Virgin America's inaugural flight to Dallas Love Field on Monday, Oct. 13.
  • By From the news wires

Virgin America says its initial public offering of 13.3 million shares has priced at $23 apiece.

The offering values the Burlingame, California, airline at about $994 million and was priced below the top of the expected range of $21 to $24 a share. The carrier is selling 13.1 million shares and shareholders are offering the rest.

Virgin America, backed by Richard Branson, says its shares will start trading Friday on the Nasdaq stock market under the ticker symbol "VA."

Virgin America is the US offshoot of Branson's London-based Virgin Group, which has a sizeable presence in a number of business across UK including airlines, railways, telecommunications, media and hospitality.

Branson, through VX Holdings LP, will own 24.8 percent stake in the airline after the offering. Hedge fund Cyrus Capital Partners LP with 32.8 percent is the biggest shareholder.

Virgin America started flying in 2007 with the goal of being low-cost but high-flair. Its Airbus jets feature mood lighting, leather seats and seatback touch screens for watching TV, ordering drinks or chatting with passengers in other rows.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Virgin America IPO raises $307 million: Shares begin trading Friday
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2014/1113/Virgin-America-IPO-raises-307-million-Shares-begin-trading-Friday
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe