Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to lay off 10 percent of workforce
SpaceX, the rocket company headed by Elon Musk, plans to lay off about 10 percent of its more than 6,000 employees, a spokesperson said on Friday.
The company said it will “part ways” with some of its employees as it faces “extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead.”
“To continue delivering for our customers and to succeed in developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based Internet, SpaceX must become a leaner company,” the spokesperson said in an email. “Either of these developments, even when attempted separately, have bankrupted other organizations. This means we must part ways with some talented and hardworking members of our team.”
Last month, SpaceX launched its first national security space mission for the U.S. military, using a Falcon 9 rocket to carry a $500 million GPS satellite made by Lockheed Martin. It was the company’s 21st launch of 2018.
This isn’t the first time the company has made job cuts, however:, In June, Musk fired seven members of the senior management team, reportedlyover disagreements about the pace of work on the Starlink satellites.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the company planned to raise $500 million in funding, pushing its value to $30.5 billion.
Musk also made headlines in June at his other company, Tesla, when it announced it was cutting 9 percent of its employees as part of an organizational restructuring aimed at reducing costs and boosting profits.
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FOX Business’ Hillary Vaughn contributed to this article