| Virgin Orbit, which focused on launching satellites to space off a converted Boeing 747 aircraft, officially shut down. The company sold its facility leases and equipment for a total of $36M. Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April after its sixth mission, and first from the U.K., failed to reach orbit while carrying satellites for the British Ministry of Defense and a communications unit for Oman.
Virgin Orbit went public in December 2021 through a SPAC merger with NextGen Acquisition Corp, which valued the company at $3.7B. After an initial unsuccessful attempt at getting to Low Earth Orbit in May 2020, Virgin Orbit was able to deliver a payload to space four times using the LauncherOne two-stage orbital launch vehicle. However, a loss of investor confidence as a result of its last attempt drove the company to its closing. 
As of the end of Q4 2022, Virgin Orbit had $51.19M in cash and cash equivalents, down from $194.15M at the end of 2021. It generated $33.1M for the full year in 2022. Virgin Orbit reported a net loss of $191.27M, increasing from a net loss of $157M the previous year and $121.7M in 2020.
 After its failed mission in January, Virgin Orbit unsuccessfully attempted to secure funding to remain in operation. The company held late-stage talks with Matthew Brown in what was reported to be a discussion for a $200M private investment, which would have granted him a controlling stake in the entity. While Brown did confirm that the deal was close to completion, it ultimately did not materialize. Virgin Orbit then furloughed its employees and paused operations at the beginning of March, prior to laying off 675 people, which constituted 85% of the staff, and resuming work with the remainder. One of the employees let go in March, COO Tony Gingiss, wrote at the time an email addressed to Virgin Orbit employees stating, "You simply did not have the leadership or opportunity to demonstrate to the world what you can fully do and how this product could be an enduring force in the market." The message followed by Gingiss stating he "was not able to convince our leader and board to take a different path to give us more time to figure things out" and "we didn't prioritize our people and financial resources better." Virgin's physical assets, however, will remain in the space industry. On Monday, the bidding resulted in RocketLab acquiring Virgin Orbit's 140,000-square-foot headquarters in Long Beach, California, for $16.1M. The purchase adds to New Zealand-based RocketLab's presence in Long Beach. It would also include other assets, such as 3D printers and a specialty tank welding machine. Stratolaunch, a Seattle-based aerospace company providing high-speed flight test services, successfully bid for Virgin Orbit's "Cosmic Girl," its modified Boeing 747 aircraft, for $17M. Launcher, a Vast Space subsidiary, purchased Virgin's site, including machinery, in Mojave, California, for $2.7M. Lastly, Inliper, a liquidation company, purchased Virgin Orbit's office equipment for $650,000. |
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