Richard Branson's rocket company Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy

San Francisco, April 5

Virgin Orbit, the rocket company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, has filed for bankruptcy after announcing to lay off 85 per cent of its employees.

The low Earth orbit launch company, spun out of Branson's Virgin Galactic, filed for bankruptcy protection with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

"On April 4, 2023, Virgin Orbit and its domestic subsidiaries commenced voluntary proceedings under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware," said the company in its filing.

Virgin Orbit will now seek a sale of the entire company or its assets as possible resources to resolve its bankruptcy status.

Virgin Orbit laid off nearly 85 per cent of its workforce -- about 675 employees -- after it failed to secure key funding.

It has ceased operations "for the foreseeable future", its CEO Dan Hart told employees last week.

"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 and extremely painful changes," Hart told the employees.

Branson founded Virgin Orbit in 2017 after spinning off from its sister company, Virgin Galactic.

Virgin Orbit has been developing an air-launched rocket, dubbed LauncherOne, for launching small satellites to orbit.

In January, its rocket carrying satellites into space suffered an "anomaly", abruptly ending the first foray into orbital launch from the UK territory.

An investigation into that failed mission "is nearly complete and our next production rocket with the needed modification incorporated is in final stages of integration and test", a Virgin Orbit spokesperson said in a March statement.