Virgin Orbit to stop operations and terminate almost entire staff as it failed to secure funding

Virgin Orbit is set to lay off about 85% of its workforce after failing to secure the funds it needed to stay in business. With almost its entire staff being terminated and with no funds, the aircraft engineering company will cease operations altogether.

Virgin Orbit is a subsidiary of the Virgin Group owned by the well-known British billionaire, Richard Branson. It was created as a spin-off of the Virgin Galactic space tourism business to make and sell the LauncherOne rocket, which was originally a project under the spaceflight firm.

The company mainly provides launch services for small satellites, but it has struggled in recent years. Its executives have tried to obtain new funding to keep it afloat, but no cash has come in.

According to CNN Business, by April 3, Virgin Orbit is letting go of its 675 employees, and this was indicated in a public document that was filed on Thursday, March 30. It said that this needs to be done to reduce expenses since the company was not able to secure meaningful funding.

The business operations may have already stopped earlier as Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit’s chief executive officer, reportedly told the employees to cease operations on March 15. This has put the staff into a week-long furlough while the company was working to find additional funding.

It was stated in the public document that the aircraft engineering firm would incur charges amounting to around $15 million due to its decision to abruptly stop its business. On top of this, it may also have to pay $8.8 million in severance payments plus employee benefits costs.

Another $ 6.5 million is needed for other costs related to outplacement services and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act exposure which requires companies to inform staff about layoffs in advance, at least 60 days before the job termination.

in an audio recording of the meeting with employees, which was obtained by CNBC, Virgin Orbit’s CEO told the staff, “Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to secure the funding to provide a clear path for this company. We have no choice but to implement immediate, dramatic, and extremely painful changes.”

Photo by: Francois Olwage/Unsplash