Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy

British billionaire Richard Branson’s small satellite launcher Virgin Orbit has filed for bankruptcy. About it says in a statement on the company’s website.

It is noted that the decision followed reports of a reduction in the staff of the company due to the inability to secure funding.

“Despite the fact that we have made great efforts to obtain additional funding, in the end we are forced to do what is best for the business,” Dan Hart, CEO of Virgin Orbit, said in a statement.

According to him, the bankruptcy decision will allow selling the company “with the maximum value.” The statement emphasizes that Virgin Orbit is interested in completing the sale as soon as possible.

According to Reuters, the company’s assets are $243 million, and the amount of debt as of September 30 is $153.5 million. The statement clarifies that Virgin Orbit received $31.6 million from Virgin Investments Limited to support the bankruptcy process.

March 31 informedthat Virgin Orbit may cease operations “for the foreseeable future” due to lack of funding. Then Hart announced “dramatic and extremely painful changes.” In particular, it was planned to lay off 90% of employees, leaving only 100 people in the state.

Small satellite launcher Virgin Orbit was founded in 2017 by British billionaire Richard Branson. The first successful launch of the rocket took place on January 17, 2021. Then, by order of NASA, the LauncherOne air launch launch vehicle launched nine CubeSat microsatellites into orbit from under the wing of the aircraft.

However, in January 2023, the company reported an unsuccessful attempt to launch a LauncherOne rocket with satellites from the UK. On March 30, at the close of trading, the share price fell to $0.34. Decline in the value of shares since the beginning of the year amounted to 82%.