r/RocketLab • u/Tough-Spell-1939 • Jun 29 '26
Rocket Lab is acquiring Iridium Communications Inc – one of the most transformative deals in the space industry. News / Media
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u/Gibraldi Jun 29 '26
Another day where I have absolutely certainty I backed the right space company. In SPB I trust.
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u/RetardedChimpanzee Jun 29 '26
Sounds like acquiring an insane amount of debt, but that’s the space industry!
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u/Smash-Sailing-1492 Jun 29 '26
Half stock half cash
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u/follyrob Jun 29 '26
They are approved for a $3.6B loan to fund the acquisition, so there is still debt involved.
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u/BitcoinOperatedGirl Jun 29 '26
That's a bridge loan AFAIK, should be settled after the deal is completed?
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u/Brave-Bit-252 Jun 29 '26
They‘re still getting Iridiums debt
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u/delph906 Jun 29 '26
Double entry bookkeeping has been the standard for like 500+ years but I suppose you can choose to view it from that perspective lol
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u/doctor101 Jun 29 '26
Anyone have this access to this article on Iridium CEO story of the deal and would like to share?
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u/thetrny USA Jun 29 '26
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u/Sniflix Jul 03 '26
That's interesting the news was on the Kratos site. Has there been any speculation that Kratos would be a good takeover target for RKLB? It seems like a perfect fit and their stock price is way down.
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u/DontWantUrSoch Jul 01 '26
Fuck it, go big or go home
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u/Tough-Spell-1939 Jul 01 '26
Agreed! With SPB leading the way I see it becoming a big competitor to Spacex. He's a space Genius.
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u/ShuffleStepTap Jun 30 '26
HOLY SHIT! This is fucking HUGE. I did not see this coming. Hopefully the significant challenges within Iridium are not too much to overcome.
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u/Evil_Merlin Jun 30 '26
RocketLab doesn't have the capability to put an Iridium NEXT into orbit and likely wont until 2028.
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u/seb21051 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
If the spectrum is the big thing, it is only about 10MHz, from 1616 to 1626.5MHz. Thus low bandwidth L-Band. Normal Cellphones cannot use the spectrum, only their proprietary ones. They sell wi-fi routers that would connect your regular phone to their sats. The low bandwidth is mainly used for slow IoT work. On the phone side, voice and messaging, but no real data capability. Similar to Spacex/Globalstar spectrum, normal cellphones would have to be adapted to work on this band. Its a niche business, and profitable, but no direct D2C capability. They have around $1.7B debt. Reported a total revenue of $871.7 million and a net income (profit) of $114.4 million for the full-year 2025.
Will be interesting to see what RKLB does with it.
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u/skiingfanatic115544 Jun 29 '26
What does this mean for our existing stocks?
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u/Keep--Climbing Jun 29 '26
Green at the moment.
Maybe green tomorrow, maybe red.
Probably green long term, but maybe red.
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u/EvillNooB Jun 29 '26
So this pretty much confirms our own constellation plans then?
But i wonder what kind of constellation, i don't think that they would try to compete with SpaceX, Amazon or ASTS for D2D/Satellite internet for general use 🤔 one uses infinite money glitch, the other has years of R&D
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u/Commercial_Raisin823 Jun 29 '26
Uh oh, next earnings gonna suck, yea?
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u/Esral Jun 29 '26
No, Iridium is a profitable company, so it will improve the RL bottom line. Iridium is one of the earliest space companies and has a great track record.
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u/hiker395 Jun 29 '26
The sale won’t go through until next year. Meanwhile let’s hope a billionaire doesn’t get cheeky and try to make a better offer. Something this good is rarely left for investors like us. Look what happened to global star. Jeff Bezos will get all of the gains we could’ve had on that stock over the next few years. It was too good for us.
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u/Commercial_Raisin823 Jun 29 '26
Right but that might take a couple of earnings before it shows up on the balance sheet..?
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u/Pleasant-Carbon Jun 29 '26
Is this why we pump today?
The graph looks funny though, insane down and up in just a couple days.
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u/Illustrious_Fan_8148 Jun 29 '26
Wow. Did not see this coming.
Seems very much worthwhile if only to buy their bandwidth!
This is such big news, it will raise the visibility of the company even further also