Originally Posted by
cashash
Seems that Branson has decided to sell after he failed to get a loan from the Government.
Just to add to this, I'm not sure that he has failed completely to get a loan - the Government have asked him to resubmit his bid, the FT reporting that they wanted more evidence that shareholders were not able to contribute, and to make the 2-5 year business plans that VS had included more realistic. So a loan is potentially still on the table, however the ball is in Virgin Atlantic's court to resubmit their bid. It seems that VS are instead looking elsewhere for a saviour.
On the face of it though it looks like a shaky business proposition: very few assets, massive debts including $200m to Delta as well as a lot of refunds, and potentially licensing fees for the use of the brand with a backdrop of a very unreliable market over the next months, even longer?