Shares in Virgin Orbit fell by more than 40 per cent in after-hours trading in New York, following speculation that the satellite-launching company has run out of funding.
The business is set to cut 675 jobs, or close to 85 per cent of the workforce, with founder Richard Branson saying he will inject about £9 million to cover severance costs.
A Virgin Orbit representative said the remaining 15 per cent of employees would work on winding down the business.
The Financial Times earlier reported that Virgin Orbit's chief executive Dan Hart was scrambling to secure a last-minute funding deal that could stop the company from collapsing.
At one point in late trading on Thursday in New York, Virgin Orbit shares were priced at 19 cents. A year ago, they were changing hands for about $7 each.
Earlier this year, a Virgin Orbit rocket failed to complete the first satellite launch from UK soil.
California-based Virgin Orbit put all its operations on hold earlier this month as it sought extra funding.
In US regulatory filings, the company confirmed the job cuts “in order to reduce expenses in light of the company's inability to secure meaningful funding”.
Virgin Orbit said the layoffs would affect workers in the “all areas” of the company.
It expects total severance payments to staff and other related costs to be about $15 million (£12.1 million).
“Space looks increasingly like a frontier too far for investors, with Virgin Orbit crashing to earth as it fails to secure new funding, sees nearly the whole workforce laid off and ceases operating for the foreseeable future,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“In more bullish markets, the promise of developing a commercial satellite launch business might have been enough to excite but not in these more sober times.
“Attention may now turn to its more established space tourism sister business, Virgin Galactic, which has lost more than 60 per cent of its value over the last year.”
Unlike rivals that launch rockets from the ground, Virgin Orbit uses a technique known as air launch, in which its LauncherOne rocket is released at a high altitude from underneath the wing of a modified Boeing 747 aircraft.
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 into orbit in January 2021 and later completed four successful flights.
The company had planned to increase the number of launches this year but had to reassess after a mission in January failed, following an in-flight problem with a fuel filter that led to the loss of the rocket and the nine small satellites it was carrying.
If it had been a success, the mission would have been the first orbital launch from British soil.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
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Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history
Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)
Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.
Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)
A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.
Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)
Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.
Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)
Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.
