SpaceX announces a redundancy of 10% of its workforce

SpaceX, a space company founded by Elon Musk, announced the dismissal of 10% of its workforce. The news was forwarded by the Los Angeles Times and later confirmed by a spokeswoman for the company. With about 6,000 employees, after the layoffs, about 600 people are expected to be unemployed

. For projects already underway, the company must realize this mega cost reduction to keep its revenues up to date. This statement may seem somewhat contradictory, because the more a company is involved in new projects, the more manpower it will take to meet deadlines. However, in the case of space companies, although the investments are extremely high, the delays usually extend for years (or even decades), and customers may not be immediate.

Another explanation for this dismissal may be that SpaceX has "encompbaded" more projects than it actually can, or that it can be done. he wants to accelerate their completion in record time. Currently, the company is working on creating a constellation of satellites that will be a telecommunications network providing, among other services, the Internet to all regions of the planet, called Starlink. This project has already received a $ 1 billion investment from Google only in 2015.

In addition, the company is still developing its Starship spacecraft, which will transport humans to the Moon and Mars, and test Crew Dragon. , the spacecraft that will take astronauts to the International Space Station.

In May 2018, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC that the company had several years of profitability, but recently Bloomberg suggested that it had made no profit between September 2017 and September 2018, citing a loan last year for $ 250 million, which was a sign of financial hardship. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company was still trying to raise funds in the corporate bond market before raising $ 500 million worth of new shares.

Fortunately, the 2019 contracts should help maintain SpaceX's financial health. , which still plans to launch 18 Falcon 9 rockets and two Falcon Heavy rockets, in addition to the contract with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.