Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit Holdings (VORB.O) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday after failing to obtain long-term funding to help it recover from a rocket failure in January. After laying off roughly 85% of its 750 workers last week, the Long Beach, California-based business filed for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, seeking a sale of its assets.
“At this stage, we believe that the Chapter 11 process represents the best path forward to identify and finalize an efficient and value-maximizing sale,” Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said in a statement.
In the filing, the business listed assets of approximately $243 million and total debt of $153.5 million as of September 30. Virgin Orbit went public in 2021 with a blank check, collecting $255 million less than anticipated. Virgin Orbit, which spun off from Branson’s space tourism company Virgin Galactic in 2017, air-launches rockets from beneath a modified Boeing (BA.N) 747 plane to deliver satellites into orbit.
The plan of Virgin Orbit has been that launching small rockets from a 747 in flight would enable short-notice launches from anywhere. However, a shift in demand over the last two years toward larger launch rockets and more cost-effective shared rides to space on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has increased the competitive stakes for Virgin Orbit, according to analysts and industry officials.
Virgin Orbit’s sixth mission in January, with its centerpiece LauncherOne rocket, the first rocket launch from the United Kingdom, failed to achieve orbit, sending its payload of US and UK intelligence satellites crashing into the sea. Following the rocket failure, the business scrambled to find new financing, halting operations and furloughing nearly all of its employees on March 15 to conserve cash.