Virgin Orbit, the satellite launch subsidiary of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, has announced that it will lay off 85 percent of its workforce and cease operations “for the foreseeable future.” The company, which aimed to provide a more affordable option for putting small satellites into orbit, had been struggling to raise funds to stay afloat and compete with bigger players in the private space industry like SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Just 100 employees remain at Virgin Orbit, with 675 positions due to be cut by April 3.
according to a regulatory document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Virgin Orbit will end all operations immediately and lay off 675 positions across all departments. The layoffs are expected to be completed on April 3, leaving just 100 employees at the company. Virgin Orbit will pay approximately $15 million in severance payments and other costs related to the liquidation of the business, paid for through a $10.9 million cash injection from Branson’s investment arm, Virgin Investments (as reported by the financial times).
“Unfortunately, we have not been able to secure the funding to provide a clear path for this venture. We have no choice but to implement immediate, dramatic and extremely painful changes,” Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said, according to audio of the meeting obtained by CNBC. Hart described the meeting as “probably the hardest all-hands we’ve ever done in my life.”
The announcement comes two weeks after Virgin Orbit paused operations and furloughed nearly its entire workforce on March 15 as the company tried to secure additional investment. The satellite launch company disclosed an operating loss of $50.5 million in its latest quarterly earnings reportand Branson’s Virgin Group would have injected $60 million to keep the business afloat since November.
Virgin Orbit emerged as an offshoot of Branson-based space tourism company Virgin Galactic in 2017. Unlike rival companies like SpaceX that launch heavy rockets from the ground, Virgin Orbit launched its LauncherOne two-stage rocket from the air, carried at an altitude of 35,000 feet by a converted Boeing 747 nicknamed Cosmic Girl. It has carried out six missions in total since 2020, with four successful launches and two failures.
