Rocket Lab took a big step Monday to better compete with rivals SpaceX and Amazon, announcing an $8-billion acquisition of satellite communications company Iridium. <\/p>\n
The Long Beach rocket-and-satellite maker is buying a company that provides critical communications services to pilots, mariners and others, while giving Rocket Lab a foothold in the emerging satellite-based mobile phone market. <\/p>\n
“We are going to absorb it, optimize it and scale it into something that is really truly fantastic,” said Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck in a YouTube presentation<\/a> of the deal. <\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong> Musk’s SpaceX buys $17 billion in wireless spectrum to boost cellular service<\/a> <\/p>\n Rocket Lab is paying $54 a share for McLean, Va.-based Iridium<\/a> \u2014 $27 in cash and the rest in shares. Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo are providing $3.6 billion in financing in the deal, which is expected to close next year. <\/p>\n Iridium’s 66 low-Earth-orbit satellites<\/a> provide voice, data, navigation and other services to remote regions and across the globe to 2.55 million government, defense, aviation, maritime and commercial subscribers. <\/p>\n Iridium reported net income of $114 million in 2025, up 2% from the previous year. Revenue climbed 5% to $872 million. <\/p>\n The market for mobile cellular and other satellite-based communications is growing rapidly. <\/p>\n Elon Musk’s SpaceX spent $17 billion last year<\/a> to acquire spectrum from EchoStar and then followed it up with a $2.6-billion purchase. The spectrum will allow its Starlink broadband satellite network to provide mobile phone service worldwide. <\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong> Amazon takes aim at Elon Musk’s Starlink with $11.6-billion satellite deal<\/a> <\/p>\n In April, Amazon agreed to acquire satellite operator Globalstar<\/a> in a roughly $11.6-billion deal that would expand the services of its satellite system and the so-called direct-to-device smartphone market. <\/p>\n The competition has raised concerns about Iridium’s ability to compete. <\/p>\n SpaceX went public this month in the largest initial public offering ever<\/a>, raising $86 billion, with the company now valued at more than $2 trillion. <\/p>\n In February, Iridium Chief Executive Matthew Desch said the company has shown it’s not “in decline,” dismissing concerns that it couldn’t compete with Starlink, according to Morningstar<\/a>. <\/p>\n Founded in 2006 in New Zealand, Rocket Lab moved to the U.S. a decade ago and opened its Long Beach headquarters<\/a> in 2020. It has manufacturing and mission operations in Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Maryland, Toronto and New Zealand. <\/p>\n The company manufactures a small rocket called Electron that has launched 262 satellites into space, making it the second-busiest U.S. launch provider behind SpaceX. Rocket Lab is developing a larger rocket called Neutron, and it also makes satellites, subsystems and space components. <\/p>\n Beck said the acquisition of Iridium will propel Rocket Lab into the satellite communications business. That would otherwise be a slow process, requiring the acquisition of spectrum, satellite development and establishment of a customer base. <\/p>\n “We think we’ve found a little bit of a shortcut here,” Beck said, noting the combined company will be vertically integrated, able to design, build, launch and operate its own satellites. <\/p>\n The deal is “very strategic” for Rocket Lab, William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma said in a note to clients, according to Morningstar. <\/p>\n Rocket Lab has announced multiple contracts this year. <\/p>\n Last week, the company said it would launch Electron rockets for three NASA missions<\/a> from its New Zealand site. <\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong> SpaceX shares rise 19% in stock market debut after historic IPO<\/a> <\/p>\n In May, Rocket Lab announced a $30-million contract<\/a> with Costa Mesa defense contractor Anduril for multiple hypersonic test flights in Virginia using Rocket Lab’s HASTE launch vehicle. <\/p>\n The company is among scores of businesses that have revitalized Southern California’s aerospace and defense industries<\/a> since SpaceX was founded in 2002. SpaceX, now headquartered in Texas maintains operations in Hawthorne. <\/p>\n Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited Rocket Lab’s headquarters<\/a> in January during a stop on his tour of defense contractors in Southern California and across the country. <\/p>\n “This company, you right here, are front and center, as part of ensuring that we build an arsenal of freedom that America needs,” Hegseth told several hundred cheering workers. “The future of the battlefield starts right here with dominance of space.” <\/p>\n Iridium investors cheered the news. Its shares gained 25% to close Monday at $54.59. Rocket Lab shares jumped 16% to close at $97.95. <\/p>\n