Bezos’ Blue Origin Space Company to Cut 1,400 WA Workers

Shortly after the first successful launch of the company's new heavy-lift New Glenn rocket, Blue Origin says it plans to lay off 1,400 workers from the Kent, WA-based company.

   Blue Origin was founded 25 years ago by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

 Bezos founded Blue Origin, according to company, with the dream and goal of having people be able to travel to and from space, and even work there.

The company, according to Geekwire, said it hired very rapidly over the last couple of years, and now finds itself with too much bureaucracy. Officials said the cuts are needed to realign the workforce with the company goals.

Cuts will come from engineering, research and development, project management and some management positions will be reshuffled.

According to Geekwire:

"Blue Origin’s workforce went through a rapid growth phase in recent years. The tally was less 1,000 as recently as 2018, rose to 6,000 by 2022, and hit 11,000 in 2023 before growing to about 14,000 employees today."

The bulk of the workers are centered in Kent, others work at their launch facilities in West Texas and Florida, and their rocket engine works in Alabama.

Get our free mobile app

Blue Origin has launched its sub-orbital rocket New Shepard 29 times, including one trip with Bezos on board. Earlier in January, for the first time, they launched their bigger heavy-load New Glenn Rocket which is designed to carry payloads into space.

The New Shepard is designed mainly for tourism purposes.