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Even one of the world’s richest men needs to pare expenses sometimes.
Blue Origin, the spaceflight company started by Amazon (AMZN-0.37%) founder Jeff Bezos, will soon lay off workers, according to Bloomberg. Citing an unnamed source, the Bloomberg report said the layoffs could impact as many as 1,000 workers. Such a reduction would amount to almost 10 percent of Blue Origin’s almost 11,000-strong workforce. The cuts, according to the Bloomberg report, would allow the company to focus more on R&D.
The layoffs would not be the first for Blue Origin, which has seen its payroll balloon to 14,000 workers in recent years. The company reportedly laid off 40 workers from its enterprise technology department in 2023.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp gave some insight into the company’s direction at the annual Commercial Space Conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
“I’m very confident that we can get that on the Moon this year,” Limp said referring to the company’s new mooncraft.
According to Bloomberg, the company is having an “all hands on deck” meeting Thursday morning to discuss the latest round of layoffs.
Blue Origin operates two spacecraft, New Glenn and New Shepherd, both of which have successfully taken passengers into space.