Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, is laying off approximately 1,400 employees, representing about 10% of its workforce, according to an internal memo obtained by BBC News.
In the memo, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp explained that the layoffs are aimed at streamlining managerial roles and reallocating resources to accelerate rocket launch operations.
The announcement follows the company’s successful first test flight of its New Glenn rocket, a significant milestone in its development.
Founded by Bezos in 2000, Blue Origin has played a prominent role in the private space industry but is often perceived as trailing competitors like Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
In the email, Limp acknowledged the need for organizational changes to align with the company’s current priorities.
“Our primary focus in 2025 and beyond is to scale our manufacturing output and launch cadence with speed, decisiveness, and efficiency for our customers.”
On top of some management roles, the company will also be eliminating jobs in research and development (R&D), and engineering.
In 2023, Jeff Bezos appointed Dave Limp, who previously led Amazon’s customer-focused devices division, as CEO of Blue Origin.
This leadership change marked a shift in strategy for the company, placing greater emphasis on advancing the development of the New Glenn rocket.
While Blue Origin has struggled to keep pace with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, last month’s successful launch of the New Glenn was a significant achievement for Bezos’ company.
The New Glenn, named after John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth over 60 years ago, is designed to carry large and heavy payloads, including satellites, into space.
More powerful than SpaceX’s Falcon 9, the New Glenn can transport more satellites, making it a cornerstone of Bezos’ Project Kuiper.
This initiative aims to deploy thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites to deliver broadband services, directly competing with Musk’s Starlink network.