Virgin Orbit, the satellite-launching subsidiary of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, has announced that it will lay off 85 percent of its workforce and is ceasing operations “for the foreseeable future". The company was unable to secure a funding lifeline after failing to recover from the mid-flight failure during its launch in January this year.
In that launch attempt, a jumbo jet took off with a rocket under its wing from Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay. After flying over the Atlantic Ocean at 35,000ft, the plane jettisoned the rocket before returning safely. Later investigation revealed that a dislodged fuel filter may have caused the failure.
The layoffs are expected to be completed by April 3rd and will affect around 675 positions across every department in Virgin Orbit except for about 100 employees remaining at the company. The company is expected to pay approximately $15 million in severance payments and other costs related to winding down operations paid for by an injection of £11m ($10.9 million) from Branson's investment arm, Virgin Investments.
Virgin Orbit had previously raised small tranches of funding as debt via an investment arm of Branson’s Virgin Group last year but failed to turn an operating profit or receive meaningful funding despite four successful launches into space.
This announcement follows a collapse in its share price since going public earlier this year with stock market valuation dropping significantly from $3.7 billion when it went public in January 2021.
Chief executive Dan Hart is making last-ditch efforts to secure a rescue deal for Virgin Orbit; however, there has been no news on any potential investors coming forward yet.
This story is developing and will be updated when new information becomes available.