Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit Files for Bankruptcy, Plans to Sell Itself
thewrap.comsaid in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it would lay off 675 employees, or about 85% of its staff.Shares of Virgin Orbit Holdings dropped 4 cents, or more than 20%, to just over 15 cents in Tuesday trading.The company, which is a spinoff of Branson’s space tourism business Virgin Galactic, went public in March 2021 via combination with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
The stock was never highly valued and hit its all time high of $10.63 in June of that year, ahead of Branson’s historic trip into space.
Branson’s June 11, 2021, flight made him the first person to ride into space aboard a rocket he helped fund, and took place amid a billionaire’s “space race” with Jeff Bezos, who flew into orbit a month later. “While we have taken great efforts to address our financial position and secure additional financing, we ultimately must do what is best for the business,” Dan Hart, chief executive of Virgin Orbit, said in a statement on the company website.
Hart also praised the company’s achievements, which included bringing an innovative method of launching satellites into orbit that has seen 33 successful launches. “We believe that the cutting-edge launch technology that this team has created will have wide appeal to buyers as we continue in the process to sell the company.”Branson has invested more than a billion dollars into the company that competes with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, using modified Boeing 747 planes to launch satellites into space.
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