Virgin Orbit chief blasts bosses in parting email
Virgin Orbit chief accuses bosses in farewell email as company heads for bankruptcy after botched launch in Cornwall in January
A senior executive at Virgin Orbit has shot his fellow bosses in a farewell shot following the company’s collapse.
Tony Gingiss, chief operating officer of the satellite launch company, said employees “deserved better than this” in a lengthy apology email sent throughout the company.
Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart with Richard Branson
“You have been part of something bold, challenging and fulfilling [but] you just didn’t have the leadership or the opportunity to show the world what you can fully do and how this product could be a lasting force in the market,” he said.
The email appeared to be aimed at Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart, though Gingiss did not name him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to convince our leader and board to take a different path to give us more time to figure things out,” the email read.
Virgin Orbit, which was founded in 2017 by Sir Richard Branson as a spin-out of his space tourism company Virgin Galactic, filed for bankruptcy in the US on Tuesday because it failed to raise enough money to stay afloat.
It came after a failed mission from the Spaceport Cornwall in January that left the company scrambling for cash.
Gingiss, an aeronautical engineer and the former boss of Oneweb Satellites, a joint venture between Boeing and British communications firm Oneweb, was one of 675 Virgin Orbit employees laid off last month.