Virgin Galactic Provides Business Update - Seite 2

The following email was sent to all Virgin Galactic employees today, November 7, 2023 by Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier.

Hi Team,

We spoke in our town halls last month about the success of our recent spaceflights and the incredible experience that is being delivered to our early astronauts. We also spoke about the need to focus our resources on the work that will create long-term financial health and success for our company. As we discussed, our Delta Class ships will drive the capacity, growth, and profitability of our company, and we must focus our efforts on bringing these ships into service.

I’m writing today to share news that we will be streamlining our work outside of the Delta program, and we will be making related reductions in both staff and expenses. This is a difficult decision, as reductions in our workforce have direct and indirect impacts on our team, our co-workers, and our friends. I want to share how I arrived at this decision, what the process will be for those who are leaving, and what happens next.

Why are we making this decision?

To profitably scale our business, we must first invest upfront capital to create a fleet of ships based on a standardized production model — the Delta Class ships. At the same time, it has been imperative for us to demonstrate the value and potential of our product by bringing our initial ships, Unity and Eve, into commercial service. Both of these initiatives consume substantial resources, and both have been critical to our company. We have successfully advanced both of these important efforts in parallel, and we have been able to support our funding needs along the way with access to capital markets.

Recently, however, uncertainty has grown in the capital markets. Interest rates remain high, which adds pressure to companies who are investing today for profits that will come in the future. Geopolitical unrest continues to expand, and the combination of these factors makes near-term access to capital much less favorable. We are going to succeed in this environment by focusing our full company efforts on the safe, efficient, and successful completion of our Delta program that will allow us to create positive cash flow.

The Delta ships are powerful economic engines. To bring them into service, we need to extend our strong financial position and reduce our reliance on unpredictable capital markets. We will accomplish this, but it requires us to redirect our resources toward the Delta ships while streamlining and reducing our work outside of the Delta program.