Jeff Bezos space firm Blue Origin to cut a tenth of jobs
2025-02-14
Category: economic

Blue Origin, the rocket company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is reportedly laying off almost 1,400 employees, about 10% of its workforce.The job cuts signal a pivot for the space firm, which said it wanted to trim managerial ranks and focus its resources on ramping up launches of its giant New Glenn rocket.The rocket completed its first successful test flight last month after long delays, marking a major milestone for the company. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, Blue Origin has been a key player in the private space race, but it is seen as lagging behind rivals such as Elon Musk's SpaceX. 
In a memo to staff about the cuts, chief executive Dave Limp said that though the company had made significant progress, it wasn't structured for the kind of success it hoped to achieve. Blue Origin did not respond to a request for comment immediately.The company has already seen a shake-up in leadership and exodus of senior executives at the company. Amazon veteran Dave Limp took over after former boss Bob Smith stepped down in late 2023.With the launch of the New Glenn rocket, Blue Origin is moving away from research and pushing to scale up production and secure more commercial and government contracts for the heavy-lift vehicle, which is designed for orbital missions.