Jeff Bezos’ space venture Blue Origin is cutting its workforce by approximately 10% in a bid to cut costs and improve cost-effectiveness. Over 1,000 employees are set to be axed, as revealed in an all-hands meeting last Thursday that was called by CEO Dave Limp.
In a memo to employees, Limp admitted that the aggressive growth had brought additional bureaucracy and inefficiencies. Through restructuring, Blue Origin is eliminating engineering, research and development, and project management jobs and reducing management layers.
The venture comes after several decades of Bezos pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the company’s futuristic space initiatives, such as moon lander, space station, and developing rocket engines. Even the company hit delays and developmental hiccups, especially in its New Glenn rocket, which launched successfully recently after being postponed for years.
It was established in 2000. Blue Origin once employed about 14,000 people at its Washington headquarters and factories in Alabama, Texas, and Florida. Blue Origin is being increasingly confronted by Elon Musk’s SpaceX with high-launch frequency and aggressive technological innovation dominating the commercial space marketplace.
Limp, a veteran of Amazon, was hired in 2023 to shake things up and speed up some of the most ambitious initiatives, such as an uncrewed moon landing in 2025 and ramping up New Glenn and New Shepard rocket launch rates.
While Blue Origin laid off employees, it is still determined to complete its $10 billion worth of launch orders and continuing its spaceflight operations. The restructuring is intended to set the company up for higher efficiency and success in the highly competitive aviation industry.
