Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin to lay off 10% of its workforce

Blue Origin, one of the US' largest private space companies, is looking to cut costs, trim manager ranks and focus resources on ramping up rocket launches.

Blue Origin LLC, Jeff Bezos' space company, is set to lay off 10 per cent of its workforce, reported Bloomberg citing anonymous sources.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin to lay off 10% of its workforce(REUTERS)

The company reportedly made an internal announcement regarding the personnel cuts during an employee meeting with CEO Dave Limp on Thursday morning.

Blue Origin, which is one of the United States' largest private space companies, is looking to reduce costs, trim manager ranks, and channel their resources towards increasing the number of rocket launches in the company.

The company's decision to lay off employees will affect approximately 1,000 people out of the 11,000 employees, reported AFP citing a PitchBook estimate on the company's staff.

In a memo sent to employees, CEO Limp said that the company’s growth had led to “more bureaucracy and less focus” due to a hiring spree over the last few years.

While Limp acknowledged the recent progress made by the company, he said, “That being said, when you look at the foundation of the company and what we need to get to over the next three to five years, we just came to the painful conclusion that we aren't set up for the kind of success that we wanted to have.”

“Sadly, this resulted in eliminating some positions in engineering, R&D, and program/project management and thinning out our layers of management,” Limp added in the email.

The unexpected layoffs come a month after the space company debuted its flagship New Glenn rocket after several setbacks and delays.

Limp, who formerly worked at Amazon, was appointed as the head of Blue Origin in 2023 to set the company back on track after a research and development slump.

The company is looking to launch more New Glenn flights and clear around $10 billion worth of contracts. Dave Limp also stated that the company aimed to land an uncrewed vehicle on the moon in 2025, as well as increase the number of New Glenn and New Shepard launches.