SpaceX will lay off hundreds of workers after its successful launch of Iridium communication satellites

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space travel company, plans to lay off 577 employees, which is more than 10% of its 6,000-strong workforce across the country. This piece of news was conveyed in an email from President Gwynne Shotwell, who wrote that “this was a very difficult but necessary decision.”

This decision came soon after “the successful launch of the 10 Iridium communications satellites into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket from a base in California, the first of many planned flights this year.” The successful launch capped a two-year campaign by Iridium Communications Inc. to refresh its original satellite fleet with a “new generation of mobile communication technology and added global aircraft tracking capability.”

The layoffs are SpaceX’s attempt to reduce operating costs and become a “leaner company.” According to the Wall Street Journal in December last year, the company is valued at US$30.5 billion. Early this year, SpaceX sold “US$273 million in equity as part of a plan to raise a total of US$500 million.”

(Source: Fortune, The Wall Street Journal)

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