His Virgin Orbit holdings Richard Branson filed for bankruptcy after failing to secure the long-term funding needed to recover from a failed rocket launch in January.

Recall that Virgin Orbit faced serious liquidity problems, which forced it to suspend its operations and enter into negotiations to secure funding.

The Long Beach, California-based company filed for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in an attempt to sell its assets after announcing last week that it would lay off 85 percent of its 750 employees.

In its filings, the company lists assets and liabilities ranging from $100 million to $500 million.

Anemic investment interest

These developments come at a time when investor interest in space startups such as Virgin Orbit and Rocket Lab USA — two companies that launch rockets in particularly challenging environments — is waning.

Sluggish interest has also weighed on Rocket Lab’s stock price performance, which has fallen by about 70% in the past year.

What happened in January?

However, in January, the Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket failed to send nine small satellites into low Earth orbit due to an anomaly during its flight into space. This failure led to the “fall” of the company’s shares.

In addition, the company recorded a loss of almost $44 million in the third quarter of 2022 ending September 30. He had around $71 million in cash reserves at the time, up from $122.1 million at the end of June.

^{According to Reuters}

⇒ News today

Subscribe to kathimerini.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at kathimerini.gr