Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (SPCE) shares took a nosedive Monday after founder Ric꧅hard Branson said in an interview that he wouldn't be𝓀 investing more money in the space-flight company.

"Virgin Galactic has got $1 billion, or nearly," Branson told the Financial Times in a story published Saturday. "It should, I believe, have sufficient funds to do its job on its own."

Although Virgin Galactic has said it has sufficient cash on hand to carry the company to 2026, some analysts anticipate the need for a cash infusion by mid-2025, the Financial Times said. Virgin Galactic stock was down more than 15% Monday afternoon, trading around $1.99 per s♚hare.

Branson's statement came less than a month after Virgin Galactic released third-quarter earnings with lower-than-🅺ant♍icipated losses. At that time, the company announced several cost-cutting measures, including layoffs and suspension of commercial space flights, which helped tꦦo push the stock more than 20% higher a🍸t the time.

Those cuts come as Virgin Galactic refocuses its resources on the production of larger Delta-class ships, which are expected to enter revenue service in 2026 and be key to driving scalable profitability for Virgin.

Airlines in general are c🧸oncerned about profitability as demand wanes and fuel costs ❀rise, but Virgin Galactic may be more insulated﷽ from these shocks than some competitors, thanks to tickets starting at $450,000 a seat on its rocket-powered space plane.

"We have seen in the past that in difficult recessionary periods, the ultra-wealthy in many cases still have the ability to spend,” Procure Space ETF (UFO) founder Andrew Chanin said in a recent interview with Yahoo! Finance.