investors in virgin galactic holdings inc spce could take a breath friday as shares in the aerospace and space travel company appeared unaffected by the troubles facing rocketlauncher builder virgin orbit holdings inc vorb sir richard branson is the largest shareholder for both companies according to factset data and is also chairman of virgin atlantic airways virgin galactic’s stock gained 07 in morning trading and has rallied 175 year to date meanwhile virgin orbit shares plunged 387 toward a recordlow close and has plummeted 887 this year after the company said it would lay off 675 employees or about 85 of its workforce given the company’s “inability to secure meaningful funding” meanwhile the sp 500 spx gained 07 on friday and has tacked on 63 year to date