Sir Richard Branson’s Rocket company, Virgin Orbit announced it is laying 85 percent of all staff after failing to receive new investment. Read to know more.
Virgin Orbit bids goodbye to 85% staff
Virgin Orbit, Sir Richard Branson’s Rocket company announced it is laying off 85 percent of its employees. The move is following the company’s failure at gaining new investment. According to several media reports, the operations will cease for the foreseeable future. Earlier this year, the firm was not able to finish its first satellite launch planned from UK soil using its rocket.
Moreover, Virgin Orbit also experienced over 44 percent fall in their shares. In A US regulatory filing, they stated the decision was made “to reduce expenses in light of the company’s inability to secure meaningful funding.” The layoffs are going to impact about 675 employees “located in all areas of the company.”
More on the layoffs:
According to its estimates, Virgin Orbit will have to make about $15 million. This will be towards the final payment of the laid-off employees and other costs. It also stated that a total of $10.9 million was injected by Virgin Investments, Sir Richard Branson‘s investment firm into Virgin Orbit. This was aimed to help “fund severance and other costs related to the workforce reduction.” “We have no choice but to implement immediate, dramatic, and extremely painful changes,” stated Dan Hart. Hart is the Chief Executive Officer for Virgin Orbit. The new announcement comes amidst media reports revealing the firm’s head informed staff about the suspension of the company’s activities.