By Amelia Pollard, Rachel Butt and Loren Grush | Bloomberg
Virgin Orbit Holdings in Long Beach filed for bankruptcy after the satellite launch firm tied to British billionaire Richard Branson failed to secure the funding needed to keep operating and cut about 85% of its staff.
The company listed $243 million in assets and $153.5 million for its total debt in a Chapter 11 petition filed in Delaware.
The move punctuates the rapid fall of the company, after a high-profile launch failure in January and a collapse in its stock price. Virgin Orbit halted operations in March while it sought additional capital and later laid off about 671 employees.
Branson’s Virgin Investments Ltd. has committed to providing an added $31.6 million to keep the pared-back operation going while it seeks a buyer. The 72-year-old billionaire had already pumped in $70.9 million since November, according to bankruptcy filings.
Chief Executive Officer Dan Hart said he’s seeking a transaction that will position Virgin Orbit and its assets “for future opportunities and missions,” according to a statement.
The firm — part of Branson’s empire that includes Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd and spaceflight company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. — hasn’t turned a profit as a public company. It lost about $191.2 million last year, Virgin Orbit said in a regulatory filing.
The launch company officially began in 2017 as an offshoot of Virgin Galactic. Virgin Orbit’s business centered on launching small satellites into orbit.
Unlike some competitors that launch rockets from the ground, Virgin Orbit uses a technique known as air launch, in which its LauncherOne rocket is deployed at a high altitude from underneath the wing of a modified Boeing Co. 747 plane. The company began developing the rocket at Virgin Galactic, years before the satellite-launch business was formally created.
Virgin Orbit successfully launched its first mission to orbit in January 2021 and completed four successful…
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