Elon Musk inspired start-up, Hyperloop One, has shut down

Hyperloop One the high-speed company for transport and freight established to connect world regions has been shut down.

The company has now announced that it will be reducing its workforce and selling assets to the company.

At the start of the year, the had a staff of around of 200 people, however, only a handful are left to sell the company's remaining property until the end of their contracts in December. As reported via Bloomberg.

What was Hyperloop One?

The idea was originally the brainchild by Elon Musk's "Alpha paper" Hyperloop One was designed to transport freight and passengers via ultra-fast railway lines.

The proposal said the possibility of passengers being taken to Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 35 minutes.

The system was akin the technology used in Japanese bullet trains however cargo and passengers would be placed in metal containers and transported at high speeds. The company constructed a test facility within the Las Vegas desert after raising $450 million of funding.

At one time, the supersonic transport firm was featured in the press for many reasons that were not good. Co-Founder Brogan BamBrogan was a defendant in an action for harassment and nepotism after a noose was put in his office chair.

One of the biggest shareholders is Richard Branson's Virgin Group, with the British billionaire joining the Hyperloop Board of Directors in 2017.

The brand was changed as Virgin Hyperloop to announce the partnership, which reads:

"With Virgin Hyperloop One, cargo and passengers will be packed into a pod and move slowly using electric propulsion via a low-pressure tube. The pod rapidly rises over the track with magnetic levitation, and then glides at high speeds over longer distances because of extremely low aerodynamic drag."

In February 2022, as reported from The Financial Times, over half of the Virgin Hyperloop staff were let go because the company was focused only on transportation and shipping. This could lead to Virgin eliminating its logo and leaving the project.

An uncertain moment for Elon Musk

The announcement adds to an already challenging year for the globe's most wealthy man, who has been the subject of personal and professional controversies throughout 2023.

In November, Musk gave a public apology for a supposedly antisemitic tweet via his platform X. Musk claimed that this was the most offensive post on the history of the platform.

The year was only going to get more difficult for Musk following a public outburst during an interview prompted major advertisers leaving the platform, resulting in an estimated loss of $75 million for X.

Musk has since formed an advertising campaign for the political party in an attempt to make up for the loss of money through advertising, which is $100 million.