Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin lays off nearly 40 employees

SAN FRANSISCO: Jeff Bezos-run aerospace company Blue Origin has laid off around 40 employees in its enterprise technology department, the media reported.

A report in The Information, citing sources, said that more than three dozen employees have been asked to go at the company. “The job cuts include software engineers and programme managers,” the report mentioned.

The layoffs came as Amazon’s devices and services chief Dave Limp is joining Blue Origin as CEO, replacing Bob Smith. Limp will join Blue Origin, starting December 4 as CEO and Smith will step aside on January 2 "to ensure a smooth transition," Bezos said in an email to Blue Origin employees last month.

Limp joins Blue Origin at a key phase of the company’s multiple space projects. Blue Origin won a $3.4 billion NASA contract earlier this year to build a lunar lander for the US space agency’s astronauts.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has closed its investigation of the failure suffered by Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle more than a year ago. The failure occurred in September 2022 when an uncrewed research mission lifted off from Blue Origin's launch site in West Texas and seconds after launch, New Shepard's reusable first-stage booster experienced a serious problem and crashed.

"The final report cites the proximate cause of the September 12, 2022 mishap as the structural failure of an engine nozzle caused by higher-than-expected engine operating temperatures," FAA officials said last month.

"Blue Origin must implement all corrective actions that impact public safety and receive a licence modification from the FAA that addresses all safety and other applicable regulatory requirements prior to the next New Shepard launch," the FAA statement added.