Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit to cease operations, lay off 675 employees

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson's space company, Virgin Orbit, has announced that it will lay off 85 per cent of its staff and cease operations due to the failure to secure new investments.

According to reports, the decision came after the company paused operations in an attempt to shore up its finances a few weeks ago.

Virgin Orbit said in a regulatory filing in the US that it made the decision "in order to reduce expenses in light of the company's inability to secure meaningful funding."

Approximately 675 employees, located in all areas of the company, will be affected by the layoffs.

The company's shares plunged by more than 44 per cent in after-hours trading in New York on Thursday.

The company's boss, Dan Hart, reportedly told staff that the firm will suspend its activities until further notice.

"We have no choice but to implement immediate, dramatic and extremely painful changes," Hart said at a meeting with employees, according to CNBC, which first reported the news.

Virgin Orbit, which was founded in 2017, develops rockets to carry small satellites and is part of Branson's business empire, which includes airline Virgin Atlantic and space tourism company Virgin Galactic.

The firm has not turned a profit as a public company.

Earlier this year, Virgin Orbit attempted the first-ever satellite mission launched from UK soil in January, which ended in failure.

The mission was billed as a milestone for UK space exploration, and it was hoped it would mark a significant step forward in fulfilling an ambition to turn the country into a global player in the space industry.

Branson's investment firm, Virgin Investments, has injected $10.9 million (£8.8 million) into Virgin Orbit "to fund severance and other costs related to the workforce reduction."

Virgin Orbit said it expects payments to laid-off staff and other costs to total around $15 million.