Satellite firm looks to buy Apple-backed operator
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX explores acquisition of Globalstar - report
Satellite firm looks to buy Apple-backed operator
Globalstar is reportedly exploring a sale of the company, with prospective buyers including Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Unnamed sources described as familiar with the matter shared the news with
Bloomberg late last week, causing shares in the company to rise 24 percent.
– Apple
Information suggests the Louisiana-based satellite-to-smartphone giant has entered early-stage conversations with a set of potential buyers. It has received assistance from an unnamed investment bank, the report said, noting there was a possibility that the company could remain independent.
“[SpaceX] will be initiating discussions with telcos in a different way now,” Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, told attendees at World Satellite Business Week in Paris in mid-September this year. “It’s our spectrum, but we want to work with them, almost providing wholesale capacity to their customers. We have to work with the device manufacturers, the chip companies, and working with telcos on the end game. It’s really exciting, but it’s a huge amount of work.”
Apple will be enmeshed in these proceedings, given that the company has invested $1.5 billion in Globalstar to fund the expansion of its iPhone communication services program late last year, with Globalstar noting that 85 percent of its network capacity would be allocated to Apple.
The deal with Apple underlines the value of Globalstar, which owns and operates its own 31-satellite low-Earth orbit satellite constellation, with an additional 26 planned for launch by SpaceX. Its network provides voice and data services worldwide, and has a long reputation for satellite direct-to-device technology development.
It is a significant player in the heating market for direct-to-device, which also contains AST SpaceMobile, Skylo, Lynk, and Iridium spoiling for dominance.
An earlier report from
The Information suggested Globalstar chair James Monroe had briefed associates about selling the company for above $10 billion, above the company’s then $5.3 billion market cap. That sale price was declined by Microsoft in similar sale negotiations in the past.
Three years ago, Elon Musk pitched Apple on Starlink’s infrastructure, hoping to secure them as an anchor customer for the network, though the company ended up opting for Globalstar.
The leak of these proceedings, and its distortive impact on the company’s price, will make the continuation of an acquisition more difficult, with Globalstar’s valuation frothing from the hype of the story and investor scrutiny crowding negotiations. This suggests Bloomberg’s source(s) may have had a stake in the sale falling through or being processed at an inflated price.
So far, Globalstar, SpaceX, and Apple have not commented on the developing story.
In the summer, SpaceX reached a $17 billion agreement with Echostar Corporation to purchase terrestrial spectrum assets to enhance its position as a commercial 5G and satellite phone market player.
SpaceX quietly acquired IoT-satellite firm Swarm in
2021.
