Abdelrahman
Reports indicate that Blue Origin, the aerospace venture founded by Jeff Bezos, is set to downsize its workforce by approximately 1,000 employees.
The announcement was made by Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp in an internal communication to staff, a message that was shared with media outlets including CNN and The New York Times.
While Blue Origin has not publicly disclosed its total number of employees, estimates suggest that the figure is close to 10,000, as reported by The New York Times. Consequently, the upcoming layoffs will account for about 10% of the workforce.
In the email, Limp stated, “In recent years, we expanded rapidly and hired extensively, leading to increased bureaucracy and diminished focus. It has become evident that our organization must evolve to better align roles with our strategic priorities,” as quoted by CNN.
The layoffs will impact various sectors within the company, including engineering, research and development, project management, and general management roles, according to The New York Times.
Founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, Blue Origin predates Elon Musk’s establishment of SpaceX by two years. Both entrepreneurs share a vision of aiding humanity’s exploration beyond Earth, with Musk concentrating on missions to Mars, while Bezos advocates for colonization through innovative space stations.
Related: Explore Blue Origin: Key Insights into the Private Spaceflight Company
To date, Blue Origin’s fully reusable New Shepard vehicle has undergone 29 launches, with the most recent taking place on February 4. Out of these flights, nine have included crewed missions.
The company is also in the process of developing a large, partially reusable rocket named New Glenn, which successfully conducted its inaugural test flight last month, achieving its goal of reaching Earth orbit, despite the first-stage rocket’s unsuccessful landing attempt on a maritime platform.
Blue Origin is also working on the Blue Moon spacecraft, which has been chosen by NASA as the second crewed lunar lander for its Artemis program.
