Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit slashing 85% of its workforce

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit is letting go of almost its entire work force with the satellite launch company finding it difficult to secure funding three months after a failed mission

ByMICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

March 31, 2023, 7:34 AM

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit is letting go of almost its entire work force with the satellite launch company finding it difficult to secure funding three months after a failed mission.

The company, headquartered in Long Beach, California, will cut 675 jobs, about 85% of its workforce, according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Earlier this month Virgin Orbit said that it was pausing all operations amid reports of possible job cuts. At the time the company confirmed that it was putting all work on hold, but didn’t say for how long.

In January, a mission by Virgin Orbit to launch the first satellites into orbit from Europe failed after a rocket’s upper stage prematurely shut down. It was a setback in the United Kingdom which had hoped that the launch from Cornwall in southwest England would mark the beginning of more commercial opportunities for the U.K. space industry.

The company said in February that an investigation found that its rocket’s fuel filter had become dislodged, causing an engine to become overheated and other components to malfunction over the Atlantic Ocean.

Virgin Orbit has completed four successful satellite launches so far from California for a mix of commercial and U.S. government defense uses.

Virgin Orbit said in a regulatory filing on Friday that the job cuts will occur in all areas of the company.

It expects about $15.5 million in charges related to the job cuts, with the majority of the charges taking place in the first quarter. The company anticipates $8.8 million in severance payments and employee benefits costs and $6.5 million in other employee-related costs.

Virgin Orbit anticipates the job cuts being mostly complete by Monday.

Virgin Orbit, which is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, was founded in 2017 by British billionaire Richard Branson to target the market for launching small satellites into space. Its LauncherOne rockets are launched from the air from modified Virgin passenger planes, allowing the company to operate more flexibly than using fixed launch sites.

Related Topics

View the rest of the story here

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aileen Cannon—Judge Hearing Trump’s Documents Case—Reportedly Made ‘Significant’ Mistakes In June Trial

Topline U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Florida judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s trial for retaining White House documents, made “key errors” during a criminal trial in a separate case earlier this summer, Reuters reports , raising additional questions about the Trump-appointed judge’s credibility as she prepares to oversee the ex-president’s May 2024 trial. U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, then a nominee for the position, speaks remotely during a ... [+] Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing on July 29, 2020, in Washington. Associated Press Key Facts Cannon presided over a trial in June for defendant William Spearman, who was facing charges of child exploitation and advertising and distributing child pornography. The judge refused to allow members of the public, including Spearman’s family members, into the courtroom during jury selection, according to a court transcript reported by Reuters, citing a lack of space in the courtroom, de
Read more

POV: Researchers often undercount how much visual misinformation is on Facebook

How much misinformation is on Facebook? Several studies have found that the amount of misinformation on Facebook is  low  or that the problem has  declined   over   time . This previous work, though, missed most of the story. We are a  communications researcher , a  media and public affairs researcher , and a  founder of a digital intelligence company . We conducted a study that shows that  massive amounts of misinformation have been overlooked  by other studies. The biggest source of misinformation on Facebook is not links to fake news sites but something more basic: images. And a large portion of posted pictures are misleading. For instance, on the eve of the 2020 election, nearly one out of every four political image posts on Facebook contained misinformation. Widely shared falsehoods included QAnon conspiracy theories, misleading statements about the Black Lives Matter movement, and unfounded claims about Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. Visual misinformation by the numbers
Read more

10 Best End of the World Love Stories From TV and Movies

From the unforgettable The Walking Dead television series to the record-breaking The Last of Us show inspired by the popular video game, people love dystopian-apocalypse TV and movies. Even more than that, viewers love a romance against the tragic backdrop of the end of the world. RELATED: ' Knock at the Cabin' and 9 Other Small-Scale Apocalyptic Movies Throughout the years there have been just as many iconic couples in apocalyptic media as there has been apocalyptic media. From Rick and Michonne to Bill and Frank, there’s a meant-to-be couple to swoon over in between those nail-biting moments of anticipation while watching a dystopian movie or show. COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY 10 Penny and Dodge, 'Seeking a Friend for the End of the World' (2012) Image via Focus Features A seemingly mismatched couple who find each other as the world is facing impending destruction by asteroid, Penny ( Kiera Knightley ) and her neighbor Dodge ( Steve Carrell ) begin to travel
Read more