Alaska Airlines buys Virgin America airline for $2.6 billion - Virgin owner Richard Branson cries out

Sir Richard Branson has complained about having to sell his US airline - even though it will make him more than $786 million (£550 million). The head of Virgin Group said that he felt ‘sadness’ after Virgin America was bought by Alaska Airlines under a $2.6 billion deal (£1.8 billion).

The companies put the transaction's value at about $4 billion, since Alaska will also be taking on Virgin America's debt and aircraft operating leases.

Despite his massive windfall Sir Richard said that there was ‘nothing I could do to stop it’ because he did not own enough shares with voting rights in Virgin America.

The $786 million payout is equivalent to one seventh of Sir Richard’s entire $5.1 billion (£3.7 billion) fortune and will swell his coffers considerably.

His Virgin Group owns about 30 per cent of Virgin America after floating it on the stock market in 2014 with a value of nearly $1 billion (£650 million.)

The takeover means that in just 18 months Sir Richard’s stake has more than doubled in value.

Nevertheless he used a lengthy post on the Virgin website to complain that it was not what he wanted.

With a wistful tone, Sir Richard said that he started Virgin America in 2007 out of ‘frustration’ because flying in the US was an ‘awful experience’.

He said that he hoped to make flying ‘good again’ but now he was unable to resist mergers between smaller airlines, a trend he said that ‘sadly cannot be stopped’.

Sir Richard wrote that back in 2007, 60 per cent of the US airline industry was consolidated but now the four big American airlines control more than 80 per cent of the US market.

He wrote: ‘I would be lying if I didn’t admit sadness that our wonderful airline is merging with another. Because I'm not American, the US Department of Transportation stipulated I take some of my shares in Virgin America as non-voting shares, reducing my influence over any takeover.

‘So there was sadly nothing I could do to stop it’.

Sir Richard said that Virgin America has ‘much more to do, more places to go’ and that it wanted to make more ‘converts’ to its brand.

Sir Richard’s tone may surprise some as Virgin America is far from the first business that the 65-year-old entrepreneur has started and later sold - or lost.

As a music executive in the 1970s with Virgin Records he signed the Sex Pistols and in the 1980s he bought Heaven, a gay nightclub in London.

Sir Richard launched Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984, shortly followed by Virgin Mobile which he sold two decades later for £1 billion.

Sir Richard’s other ventures have included the short-lived Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka and Virgin Comics.

His main project now is Virgin Galactic, his ambitious plan to create affordable space travel, which is draining millions of pounds before it has even started flying passengers.

The deal to buy Virgin America must be given approval by US regulators but if gets the go ahead it will give Alaska Airlines control over what is the ninth biggest airline by passenger numbers.

Virgin America controls about 1.5 per cent of domestic flight capacity compared with five per cent for Alaska.

Virgin America Inc.'s stock jumped $15.15, or 39 per cent, to $54.05 in pre-market trading Monday. Alaska Air Group Inc., shares fell $4.02, or 4.9 per cent, to $77.99 about an hour ahead the market open.