Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, is undergoing significant changes after announcing it will be laying off around 1,000 workers. The cuts represent a roughly 10% reduction in its workforce.
In an internal email to employees, CEO Dave Limp explained that the company grew rapidly over the past few years, leading to increased bureaucracy and reduced focus on core priorities. To address this, the organization must undergo a transformation to align roles with key objectives.
The layoffs will primarily affect engineering, research and development, project management, and general managerial layers. This restructuring aims to ensure Blue Origin’s success in executing its ambitious goals for space exploration.
Blue Origin has made significant strides in recent years, including launching its suborbital New Shepard vehicle 29 times and developing a reusable rocket called New Glenn. The company is also working on the Blue Moon spacecraft, which was selected by NASA as part of its Artemis program.
This latest move comes after Blue Origin’s successful test flight of its New Glenn rocket last month, which reached Earth orbit as planned despite some initial issues with the first stage landing.
Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/private-spaceflight/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-laying-off-1-000-employees-reports