Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin has notified employees that it will be laying off 10% of its workforce, which amounts to over a thousand employees.
In an email sent to employees on Thursday, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp stated that the company is cutting positions in engineering, research and development, planning, and project management, while also “streamlining our management.”
Limp mentioned, “In 2025 and beyond, our main emphasis will be on expanding our manufacturing output and providing launch services to customers quickly, decisively, and efficiently.”
He continued, “In recent years, our pace of development and hiring has been incredibly fast, leading to more bureaucracy and a lack of focus on the areas we need. Equally clear is that our organizational structure must change to ensure that our roles align with the actions to execute these priorities.”
If the layoffs proceed as planned, the company will cut over a thousand employees. While Blue Origin did not disclose the exact number of job cuts on Thursday, reports indicate that the company employs between 11,000 to 14,000 workers, including over 4,000 employees in Washington state.
The scale of the layoffs at Blue Origin has come as a surprise to many. Less than a month ago, the company successfully launched the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket for the first time. Blue Origin is ramping up production of this rocket while also working on the New Shepard suborbital rocket and spacecraft project, along with other initiatives.