SEATTLE, Wash. — Employees at Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin are bracing for layoffs.
According to a staff email obtained by KIRO 7, the company says it will be letting go about 10% of the workforce – which is about 1,000 employees.
The email, sent by CEO David Limp, said the cuts will impact some engineering positions, program/project management, and “thinning out layers of management.”
“Our primary focus in 2025 and beyond is to scale our manufacturing output and launch cadence with speed, decisiveness, and efficiency for our customers. We grew and hired incredibly fast in the last few years, and with that growth came more bureaucracy and less focus than we needed. It also became clear that the makeup of our organization must change to ensure our roles are best aligned with executing these priorities. Sadly, this resulted in eliminating some positions,” the email states.
The announcement comes about one month after Blue Origin debuted its first orbital rocket, New Glenn. The first-stage booster missed its landing on a barge in the Atlantic, but the company stressed that the more important goal was achieved. Bezos said before the flight it was “a little crazy” to even try to land the booster on the first try.
In the email to staff, Limp did not link the layoffs to a specific project at Blue Origin.
Blue Origin has a number of development, manufacturing, and test facilities in four US states: Washington, Texas, Florida, and Alabama.
Blue Origin has not specified how many Washington employees would be impacted.
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