Jakarta –
The company owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy. The company has also laid off 85% or 700 of its employees last week.
Quoted from ForbesWednesday (5/4/2023), Virgin Orbit has indeed faced a barrage of problems this year, ranging from failing to receive an injection of funds to the failure to launch a spacecraft or rocket last January.
These conditions made investors worried about the future of the company’s business. Not only that, the company’s share price also fell by 38%.
The company has assets of US$ 243 million and debts of US$ 153.5 million as of September 2022. Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said that filing for bankruptcy was the best step for the company to take.
Previously, Virgin Orbit had received an injection of fresh funds from Branson of US $ 70 million. However, this capital was unable to help Virgin Orbit get out of trouble.
Virgin Orbit’s share price is now only US$ 0.19, a sharp decline compared to the July 2021 period of US$ 10.47%. The share value also dropped from US$ 3 billion to US$ 65 million.
Then sister companies Virgin Orbit namely Virgin Galactic also experienced a decrease in value to US $ 3.88. Virgin Orbit and Virgin Galactic are commercial space companies that are competitors to SpaceX and Blue Origin.
(kil/ara)
