British billionaire Sir Richard Branson's rocket company Virgin Orbit says it will lay off 85% of staff after failing to secure new investment.It comes weeks after the company paused operations in an apparent attempt to shore up its finances.
Earlier this year, a Virgin Orbit rocket failed to complete the first ever satellite launch from UK soil., Virgin Orbit said it made the decision "in order to reduce expenses in light of the company's inability to secure meaningful funding."It said that Sir Richard's investment firm Virgin Investments has injected $10.9m into Virgin Orbit "to fund severance and other costs related to the workforce reduction".
"We have no choice but to implement immediate, dramatic and extremely painful changes," Virgin Orbit chief executive Dan Hart said at a meeting with employees, according to CNBC, which first reported the news.The firm, which was founded in 2017, has not turned a profit as a public company. It develops rockets to carry small satellites and is part of Sir Richard's business empire, which includes airline Virgin Atlantic and space tourism company Virgin Galactic.first ever satellite mission launched from UK soil in January, which ended in failureThe company's LauncherOne rocket - which was launched from the Boeing 747 aircraft Cosmic Girl - reached space but fell short of reaching its target orbit.
The mission was billed as a milestone for UK space exploration. It was hoped it would mark a major step forward in fulfilling an ambition to turn the country into a global player - from manufacturing satellites to building rockets and creating new spaceports.and "anticipates providing an update on go-forward operations in the coming weeks."
Not profitable. What happened to his Vrgin Trains?
Ya wanna know your worth ? 😂
thanks, rich, for overcharging me on virgin media. your teeth will be missed.
Boris Johnson Speaks About New UK Spaceport Cornwall And ‘Levelling Up’ Agenda
government to invest £92-million of Brexit readiness money on plans for independent satellite system
Mr ego f-cked up again 'eh
Getting bored of his toy and sod his staff.
You do know this isn’t virgingalactic ? You know the space tourism thing?
What a waste of time ,money , effort …..
🤣😪🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂😂
richardbranson you okay?
That was predictable, space is black hole for money 🤣
Well, it’s not rocket science… is it
Shame this venture didn't take off
Shame ! You need huge finance backing for Space tech ! And first attempt was so close
Why?
I bet Elon is piddling himself laughing.
What a shame. But good for Project Zero
As long ss he's still a multi millionaire that's ok.
Perhaps slowing down now as things r not as working out as he thought many yrs ago wld.
Since you're an American you can just get another hand out from the British 🤣
REALLY SORRY TO SEE THIS☝️ BUT… Not to fear an EPICFAIL23🙄 is the greatest lesson RichardBranson could help us teach our RocketKids23👨👩👧👦 As we did on our Kernow23 🏴☠️ weekend with VirginOrbit in January BOOK US FOR YOUR SCHOOL:
Sad for the staff but for that pro eu 🤡⬇️
He should have set up a 'go fund me' page and he'd been quids in!😂
Lol
So where does that leave those unemployed staff? Hope they all got a whopping redundancy package
Hopefully the ‘pause’ in operations is only temporary. It could be a valuable venture if it can resolve its issues.
Ya bad bastard. Dumping heavy metals into our oceans.
And I bet it didn’t affect his nights sleep either
I knew this would never get off the ground
Just wondering what will happen to the money Sir Branson got from pre-sold tickets to space 'tourists'?!
Successful company then! I expect that’s how he’s got so rich, gets money off the rich then lays off the staff who helped him get more money! Bloody tax dodger!
He’s no Elon Musk is he….
I guess Bazos won.
Looks like that flight deposit money he conned out of the rich has ran out.
Cap in hand again time .
He’s always been my favourite Bee Gee
Surely is would be more financially viable to have a runway built on his island and work from home...
We are never gonna solve unemployment issues.
😂😂another great British success story 🙄
Jesus everything virgin is just shit.
if only they had a billionaire backer
Should’ve called in an expert
He'll still be a billionaire so everything will be ok.
Go to space
Why, were they banking with Signature or Credit Suisse? 😏