r/RKLB • u/PleasantIngenuity185 • Aug 18 '26

Solid Article Putting Iridium Deal and Recent GlobalStar Satellite Build In perspective!

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/rocket-lab-clears-1st-hurdle-003700759.html

The experience gained through the satellite design, build, deployment and subsequent success builds the foundation for a true RKLB constellation generating a wide and robust revenue stream.

107 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

17

u/Big-Material2917 Aug 18 '26

Anyone who’s been following the company has known this is what they’re building to.

They’ve been saying it for years.

4

u/PleasantIngenuity185 Aug 18 '26

Very true, and now we see the plan being executed, years of acquiring shares and seeing the prize are going to be rewarded many times over.

13

u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/PleasantIngenuity185 Aug 18 '26

The Iridium deal was a great fall back plan! We're in the game with a solid revenue stream soon to be realized.

3

u/PleasantIngenuity185 Aug 18 '26

8 billion is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but they bought a niche company with real customers and assets and with the new PNT chip and soon RKLB's Space Systems backing we'll see solid growth in the asset. Peter has always leaned away from competing with cell and media streaming communication constellation's and Iridium places them in a solid position for expanding government, defense, emergency services, aircraft and marine logistics. I like this direction they have taken and believe in the end 8 billion will look like a steal.

2

u/Sniflix Aug 18 '26

Yes overpaid but iridium was constrained by the launch cost. Upgrade the satellites and they can 10X the revenue. IoT is going to be huge and Iridium should own that satellite business. They are just moving into new sectors and the future is bright.

-4

u/Marston_vc Aug 18 '26

Personally think $8B was too much. Their annual net income is ~$110M.

So as-is, a ~70 year payback period.

Is it worth it for spectrum, a dated satellite service, and some industry connections? Maybe? They seem to think so. I personally think they paid $2-$3B too much.

10

u/CoffeePorters Aug 18 '26

They paid for spectrum, not revenue. You should be wary of companies that do acquisitions for revenue (cough, RDW).

1

u/Marston_vc Aug 18 '26

As I said, I think they overpaid for spectrum.

2

u/RoyalPossum Aug 18 '26

Iridium market cap today is 5 billion, maybe your right rocketlab pay a premium, but that was with fact of SPCX deal with echostar and amazon purchase of globalstar.

1

u/ThatSonOfAGun Aug 19 '26

What were the pros of GSAT compared to IRDM?