Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE) Risk Factors

We are currently developing our next generation spaceflight vehicles, which include our Delta Class spaceships and our next generation motherships, which we expect will allow us to increase our annual flight rate. Although we commenced commercial operations with our Unity spaceflight system in June 2023, we expect to pause Unity spaceflights in mid-2024 and re-commence flying with test flights for our Delta Class spaceships in 2025, in advance of revenue service expected to begin in 2026. If we do not complete the development of our next generation spaceflight vehicles in our anticipated timeframes or at all, our ability to grow our business will be adversely affected. The successful development of our spaceflight systems and related technology involves many uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control, including: - timing in finalizing spaceflight systems design and specifications;- successful completion of flight test programs, including flight safety tests;- our ability to obtain additional applicable approvals, licenses or certifications from regulatory agencies, if required, and maintaining current approvals, licenses or certifications;- performance of our manufacturing facilities despite risks that disrupt productions, such as natural disasters and hazardous materials;- performance of a limited number of suppliers for certain raw materials and supplied components;- performance of our third-party contractors that support our research and development activities;- performance of our third-party contractors to design and manufacture our next generation carrier aircraft as well as manufacture key subassemblies for our next generation spaceships;- our ability to maintain rights from third parties for intellectual properties critical to our research and development activities;- our ability to continue funding and maintain our current research and development activities; and - the impact of the COVID-19, or an outbreak of another highly infectious or contagious disease or other health concern, on us, our customers, suppliers and distributors, and the global economy.

Our success depends in part upon successful prosecution, maintenance, enforcement and protection of our owned and licensed intellectual property, including the Virgin brand and other intellectual property that we license from Virgin under the Amended TMLA. Under the terms of the Amended TMLA, Virgin has the primary right to take actions to obtain, maintain, enforce and protect the Virgin brand. If, following our written request, Virgin elects to not take an action to maintain, enforce or protect the Virgin brand, we may do so, at our expense, subject to various conditions including that so long as doing so would not have a material adverse effect on Virgin, any of Virgin's other licensees or the Virgin brand and we reasonably believe failing to do so would materially adversely affect our business. Should Virgin determine not to maintain, enforce or protect the Virgin brand, we and/or the Virgin brand could be materially harmed and we could incur substantial cost if we elect to take any such action. To protect our intellectual property rights, we may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect these rights. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights and to protect our trade secrets. Such litigation could be costly, time consuming and distracting to management and could result in the impairment or loss of portions of our intellectual property. Furthermore, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights may be met with defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property rights. Our inability to protect our proprietary technology, as well as any costly litigation or diversion of our management's attention and resources, could disrupt our business, as well as have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. The results of intellectual property litigation are difficult to predict and may require us to stop using certain technologies or offering certain services or may result in significant damage awards or settlement costs. There is no guarantee that any action to defend, maintain or enforce our owned or licensed intellectual property rights will be successful, and an adverse result in any such proceeding could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, operating results and prospects. In addition, we may from time to time face allegations that we are infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights of third parties, including the intellectual property rights of our competitors. We may be unaware of the intellectual property rights that others may claim cover some or all of our technology or services. Irrespective of the validity of any such claims, we could incur significant costs and diversion of resources in defending against them, and there is no guarantee any such defense would be successful, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, contracts, financial condition, operating results, liquidity and prospects. Even if these matters do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor or without significant cash settlements, these matters, and the time and resources necessary to litigate or resolve them, could divert the time and resources of our management team and harm our business, our operating results and our reputation.

We collect, store, use, disclose and otherwise process personal information and other customer data, including sensitive information (such as health and biometric information), of customers, employees and other individuals, and we rely in part on third parties that are not directly under our control to manage certain of our operations and to collect, store, use, disclose and otherwise process payment information. Due to the volume and sensitivity of the personal information and data we and these third parties process and expect to process in the future, as well as the nature of our customer base, the security features of our information systems are critical. We and third parties we rely on are subject to a variety of federal, state and foreign laws, regulations, standards and other requirements regarding privacy, the processing of personal information (including information security), the European Union General Data Protection Regulation ("EU GDPR") and the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation and United Kingdom Data Protection Act 2018 (collectively, the "UK GDPR") (the EU GDPR and UK GDPR together, the "GDPR"). We are also subject to laws, regulations, standards and other requirements covering marketing and advertising activities conducted by telephone, email, mobile devices and the Internet. These requirements, and their application and interpretation, are continuously evolving and subject to potentially differing interpretations. Additionally, as these requirements may be inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another or conflict with other rules or our practices, our practices may not have complied or may not comply in the future with all such laws, regulations, requirements and obligations. For example, certain U.S. states have adopted new or modified privacy and security laws and regulations that may apply to our business. The California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act ("CCPA") went into effect in 2020 and imposes a range of obligations on covered businesses that process personal information of California residents. The enactment of the CCPA prompted a wave of similar legislative developments in other states in the U.S., which creates the potential for a patchwork of overlapping but different state laws. Since the CCPA went into to effect, comprehensive privacy statutes that share similarities with the CCPA are now in effect and enforceable in Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and Utah, will soon be enforceable in several other states and are currently under review or being proposed in other U.S. states. Further, in order to comply with the varying state laws around data breaches, we must maintain adequate cybersecurity measures, which require significant investments in resources and ongoing attention. As we have expanded and may continue to expand our international presence, we are also subject to additional privacy requirements, such as the GDPR and national laws supplementing the GDPR. The GDPR imposes stringent requirements on companies that process personal data and are subject to its provisions. These requirements include comprehensive data privacy compliance obligations in relation to our collection, sharing, disclosure, transfer, use and other processing of personal data, including having a lawful basis for our processing, providing certain rights to individuals and demonstrating compliance through policies, procedures, training and audit. The GDPR includes significant penalties for non-compliance, which may result in monetary penalties of up to the higher of €20.0 million/GBP 17.5 million or 4% of a group's worldwide annual turnover. In addition to fines, a breach of the GDPR or other applicable laws relating to the processing of personal information (including in the U.S.) may result in regulatory investigations, reputational damage, orders to cease/change our data processing activities, enforcement notices, assessment notices (for a compulsory audit) and/or civil claims (including class actions). The GDPR and other laws regulate cross-border transfers of personal data. For transfers of personal data outside of the EEA and the UK, entities may rely on standard contractual clauses (a standard form of contractual terms approved by the European Commission or the UK authorities, as applicable) as an adequate personal data transfer mechanism. We rely on the EU standard contractual clauses, UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses and the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, as relevant, with respect to both intragroup and third-party transfers. However, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") has noted that reliance on the standard contractual clauses alone may not necessarily be sufficient in all circumstances and that transfers must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. In October 2022, President Biden signed an Executive Order on ‘Enhancing Safeguards for United States Intelligence Activities' which addressed concerns raised by the CJEU in relation to data transfers from the EEA to the United States and which formed the basis of the new EU-US Data Privacy Framework ("DPF"), as released on December 13, 2022. The DPF, and the UK Extension to the DPF, became effective as transfer mechanisms to U.S. entities self-certified on July 2023 and October 2023, respectively. We expect the existing legal complexity and uncertainty regarding international personal data transfers to continue. In particular, we expect the DPF to be challenged and international transfers to the U.S. and to other jurisdictions more generally to continue to be subject to enhanced scrutiny by regulators. As the enforcement landscape further develops, and supervisory authorities issue further guidance on international data transfers, we could suffer additional costs, complaints and/or regulatory investigations or fines; we may have to stop using certain tools and vendors and make other operational changes; we have had to and will have to implement revised standard contractual clauses for existing intragroup, customer and vendor arrangements; and/or it could otherwise affect the manner in which we provide our services, the geographic location or segregation of our systems and operations, and could adversely affect our business, operations and financial condition. We and our third-party providers are also subject to evolving U.S., EU and UK online services and digital privacy and data laws as well as laws on cookies, pixels, tracking technologies and e-marketing. Recent European court and regulator decisions are driving increased attention to cookies and tracking technologies. In the EEA and the UK, informed consent is required for the placement of non-essential cookies, pixels and similar technologies that store information, or access information stored on, a user's device, and for direct e-marketing. If the trend of increasing enforcement by regulators of the strict approach to opt-in consent for all but essential use cases, as seen in recent guidance and decisions continues, this could lead to substantial costs, require significant systems changes, limit the effectiveness of our marketing activities, divert the attention of our technology personnel, adversely affect our margins, and subject us to additional liabilities. In addition, there has been a noticeable increase in class actions in the U.S. where plaintiffs have utilized a variety of laws, including state wiretapping laws, in relation to the use of cookies and other tracking technologies. In light of the complex and evolving nature of online services and digital privacy and data laws as well as laws on cookies, pixels, tracking technologies and e-marketing, there can be no assurances that we will be successful in our efforts to comply with such laws. Actual or potential violations of such laws could result in regulatory investigations, fines, orders to cease/change our use of such technologies and processing of personal data, as well as civil claims including class actions, reputational damage and ongoing compliance costs, any of which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with any U.S. federal, state or foreign privacy, processing of personal information, consumer protection or e-marketing related laws, regulations, standards or other requirements to which we may be subject or other legal obligations relating to these matters, or any significant data breach, could adversely affect our reputation, brand and business, result in claims, investigations, proceedings or actions against us by individuals, consumer rights groups, governmental entities or others or other penalties or liabilities, or require us to change our operations and/or cease using certain data sets. We could incur significant costs in investigating and defending such claims and, if found liable, pay significant damages or fines or be required to make changes to our business. Further, these proceedings and any subsequent adverse outcomes may subject us to significant negative publicity and an erosion of trust. If any of these events were to occur, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Certain institutional investors, investor advocacy groups, investment funds, creditors and other influential financial market participants have become increasingly focused on companies' ESG practices in evaluating their investments and business relationships, including the impact of business on the environment. Certain organizations also provide ESG ratings, scores and benchmarking studies that assess companies' ESG practices. Although there are no universal standards for such ratings, scores or benchmarking studies, they are used by some investors to inform their investment and voting decisions. It is possible that our future stockholders or organizations that report on, rate or score ESG practices will not be satisfied with our ESG strategy or performance. Unfavorable press about or ratings or assessments of our ESG strategies or practices, regardless of whether or not we comply with applicable legal requirements, may lead to negative investor sentiment toward us, which could have a negative impact on our share price and our access to and cost of capital.

Our operations are subject to many hazards and operational risks inherent to our business, including general business risks, product liability and damage to third parties, our infrastructure or properties that may be caused by fires, floods and other natural disasters, power losses, telecommunications failures, terrorist attacks, human errors and similar events. Additionally, our manufacturing operations are hazardous at times and may expose us to safety risks, including environmental risks and health and safety hazards to our employees or third parties. Any significant interruption due to any of the above hazards and operational to the manufacturing or operation of our spaceflight systems at one of our primary facilities, including from weather conditions, growth constraints, performance by third-party providers (such as electric, utility or telecommunications providers), failure to properly handle and use hazardous materials, failure of computer systems, power supplies, fuel supplies, infrastructure damage, disagreements with the owners of the land on which our facilities are located, or damage sustained to our runway could result in manufacturing delays or the delay or cancellation of our spaceflights and, as a result, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, Spaceport America is run by a state agency, the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, and there may be delays or impacts to operations due to considerations unique to doing business with a government agency. For example, governmental agencies often have an extended approval process for service contracts, which may result in delays or limit the timely operation of our Spaceport America facilities. Moreover, our insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover our liabilities related to such hazards or operational risks. In addition, passenger insurance may not be accepted or may be prohibitive to procure. Moreover, we may not be able to maintain adequate insurance in the future at rates we consider reasonable and commercially justifiable, and insurance may not continue to be available on terms as favorable as our current arrangements. The occurrence of a significant uninsured claim, or a claim in excess of the insurance coverage limits maintained by us, could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our ability to produce our current and future spaceflight systems and other components of operation is dependent upon sufficient availability of raw materials and supplied components, such as nitrous oxide, valves, tanks, special alloys, helium and carbon fiber, which we secure from a limited number of suppliers. Our reliance on suppliers to secure these raw materials and supplied components exposes us to volatility in the prices and availability of these materials. We may not be able to obtain sufficient supply of raw materials or supplied components, on favorable terms or at all, which could result in delays in manufacture of our spacecraft or increased costs. For example, there are only a few nitrous oxide plants around the world and if one or more of these plants were to experience a slowdown in operations or to shutdown entirely, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or an outbreak of another highly infectious or contagious disease or other health concern, we may need to qualify new suppliers or pay higher prices to maintain the supply of nitrous oxide needed for our operations. In addition, we have in the past and may in the future experience delays in manufacture or operation as we go through the requalification process with any replacement third-party supplier, as well as the limitations imposed by ITAR and other restrictions on transfer of sensitive technologies. Additionally, the imposition of tariffs on such raw materials or supplied components could have a material adverse effect on our operations. Prolonged disruptions in the supply of any of our key raw materials or components, difficulty qualifying new sources of supply, implementing use of replacement materials or new sources of supply or any volatility in prices could have a material adverse effect on our ability to operate in a cost-efficient, timely manner and could cause us to experience cancellations or delays of scheduled spaceflights, customer cancellations or reductions in our prices and margins, any of which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The market for commercial spaceflight has not been established with precision and is still emerging. Our estimates for the total addressable market for commercial spaceflight are based on a number of internal and third-party estimates, including our current backlog, the number of consumers who have expressed interest in our astronaut experience, assumed prices at which we can offer our astronaut experience, assumed flight cadence, our ability to leverage our current manufacturing and operational processes and general market conditions. While we believe our assumptions and the data underlying our estimates are reasonable, these assumptions and estimates may not be correct. The conditions supporting our assumptions or estimates may change at any time, thereby reducing the predictive accuracy of these underlying factors. As a result, our estimates of the annual total addressable market for our astronaut experience, as well as the expected growth rate for the total addressable market for that experience, may prove to be incorrect.

Although we commenced commercial operations in June 2023, we have generated only limited revenue from spaceflight, and we expect that our success will be highly dependent, especially in the foreseeable future, on our ability to effectively market and sell spaceflight experiences. We have limited experience in marketing and selling spaceflights, which we refer to as our astronaut experience. If we are unable to utilize our current sales organization effectively, or to expand our sales organization as needed, to adequately target and engage our potential astronauts, our business may be adversely affected. To date, we have primarily sold the reservations for our astronaut experience through direct sales and have sold a limited number of seats each year. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to attract new astronauts in a cost-effective manner. While we had a backlog of approximately 750 future astronauts as of December 31, 2023, we are making, and we expect that we will need to continue to make, significant investments in order to attract new astronauts. Our sales growth depends on our ability to implement strategic initiatives and these initiatives may not be effective in generating sales growth. In addition, marketing campaigns, which we have not historically utilized, can be expensive and may not result in the acquisition of new astronauts in a cost-effective manner, if at all. Further, as our brand becomes more widely known, future marketing campaigns or brand content may not attract new astronauts at the same rate as past campaigns or brand content. If we are unable to attract new astronauts, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be harmed.

We are at risk of adverse publicity stemming from any public incident involving our company, our people or our brand. If our personnel or one of our spaceflight systems, the personnel or spacecraft of one of our competitors or the personnel, aircraft or other vehicle of a commercial airline, governmental agency or other specialty adventure company, were to be involved in a public incident, accident or catastrophe, this could create an adverse public perception of spaceflight and result in decreased customer demand for spaceflight experiences, which could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions and results of operations. Further, if our personnel or our spaceflight systems were to be involved in a public incident, accident or catastrophe, we could be exposed to significant reputational harm or potential legal liability. Any reputational harm to our business could cause future astronauts with existing reservations to cancel their spaceflights and could significantly impact our ability to make future sales. The insurance we carry may be inapplicable or inadequate to cover any such incident, accident or catastrophe. In the event that our insurance is inapplicable or not adequate, we may be forced to bear substantial losses from an incident or accident.

We derive limited revenue from contracts with NASA and may enter into further contracts with the U.S. or foreign governments in the future, and this subjects us to statutes and regulations applicable to companies doing business with the government, including the Federal Acquisition Regulation. These government contracts customarily contain provisions that give the government substantial rights and remedies, many of which are not typically found in commercial contracts and which are unfavorable to contractors. For instance, most U.S. government agencies include provisions that allow the government to unilaterally terminate or modify contracts for convenience, and in that event, the counterparty to the contract may generally recover only its incurred or committed costs and settlement expenses and profit on work completed prior to the termination. If the government terminates a contract for default, the defaulting party may be liable for any extra costs incurred by the government in procuring undelivered items from another source. Some of our federal government contracts are subject to the approval of appropriations being made by the U.S. Congress to fund the expenditures under these contracts. In addition, government contracts normally contain additional requirements that may increase our costs of doing business, reduce our profits, and expose us to liability for failure to comply with these terms and conditions. These requirements include, for example: - specialized disclosure and accounting requirements unique to government contracts;- financial and compliance audits that may result in potential liability for price adjustments, recoupment of government funds after such funds have been spent, civil and criminal penalties, or administrative sanctions such as suspension or debarment from doing business with the U.S. government;- public disclosures of certain contract and company information; and - mandatory socioeconomic compliance requirements, including labor requirements, non-discrimination and affirmative action programs and environmental compliance requirements. Government contracts are also generally subject to greater scrutiny by the government, which can initiate reviews, audits and investigations regarding our compliance with government contract requirements. In addition, if we fail to comply with government contract laws, regulations and contract requirements, our contracts may be subject to termination, and we may be subject to financial and/or other liability under our contracts, the Federal Civil False Claims Act (including treble damages and other penalties), or criminal law. In particular, the False Claims Act's "whistleblower" provisions also allow private individuals, including present and former employees, to sue on behalf of the U.S. government. Any penalties, damages, fines, suspension, or damages could adversely affect our ability to operate our business and our financial results.

The occurrence of one or more natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods and earthquakes, unusual weather conditions, epidemic or pandemic outbreaks (including COVID-19), terrorist attacks, military conflicts or disruptive political events in certain regions where our facilities are located, or where our third-party contractors' and suppliers' facilities are located, could adversely affect our business. Natural disasters including tornados, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes may damage our facilities or those of our suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Severe weather, such as rainfall, snowfall or extreme temperatures, may impact the ability for spaceflight to occur as planned, resulting in additional expense to reschedule the operation and customer travel plans, thereby reducing our sales and profitability. Terrorist attacks, actual or threatened acts of war or the escalation of current hostilities, such as the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas, or any other military or trade disruptions impacting our domestic or foreign suppliers of components of our products, may impact our operations by, among other things, causing supply chain disruptions and increases in commodity prices, which could adversely affect our raw materials or transportation costs. In addition, other potential supply chain disruptions, such as product recalls, labor supply or stoppages, reduced freight availability and increased costs, port disruption, manufacturing facility closures, the financial or operational instability of key suppliers and carriers, changes in diplomatic or trade relationships (including any sanctions, restrictions, and other responses such as those related to current geopolitical events), or other reasons, could impair our ability to develop our next generation vehicles. To the extent we are unable to mitigate the likelihood or potential impact of such events, there could be a material adverse effect on our operating and financial results. These events also could cause or act to prolong an economic recession or depression in the United States or abroad, such as the business disruption and related financial impact that resulted from the global COVID-19 pandemic. To the extent these events also impact one or more of our suppliers or contractors or result in the closure of any of their facilities or our facilities, we may be unable to maintain spaceflight schedules, provide other support functions to our astronaut experience or fulfill our other contracts. In addition, the disaster recovery and business continuity plans we have in place currently are limited and are unlikely to prove adequate in the event of a serious disaster or similar event. We may incur substantial expenses as a result of the limited nature of our disaster recovery and business continuity plans and, more generally, any of these events could cause consumer confidence and spending to decrease, which could adversely impact our commercial spaceflight operations.