According to the company's CEO Dan Hart, it was decided to lay off about 90% of the staff of all departments, except for 100 employeesTASS, March 31.
The company Virgin Orbit, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson and engaged in launching satellites, will cease its activities "in the foreseeable future" due to lack of funding. This was reported by CNBC with reference to an audio recording of CEO Dan Hart's speech on Thursday at a company meeting.
"Unfortunately, we were unable to secure funding to provide a clear path for this company," Hart said. According to him, it was decided to dismiss about 90% of the staff of all divisions of the company, except for 100 employees. Virgin Orbit will "provide severance pay to every employee who is laid off," including cash payments and assistance in finding a new job, Hart assured.
According to the TV channel, negotiations with two investors failed last weekend. Hart told employees last Monday that the dialogue with other potential investors continues "very dynamically."
On March 16, the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC announced that Virgin Orbit was "temporarily ceasing operations."
The first-ever launch of Virgin Orbit space satellites from the UK ended in failure in January due to the shutdown of the engine of the second stage of the LauncherOne launch vehicle. The first stage engine turned on four seconds after the reset and worked for the required three minutes before the first stage separated. Subsequently, the second stage of the rocket, which lifts the payload into near-Earth orbit (approximately 550 km), was supposed to detach, but this did not happen. Virgin Orbit has promised to make another attempt to launch satellites from the UK by the end of this year.
