Tim Farrar published a new post arguing consolidation pressure among major satcom operators is…
As the brief logged it
In "Iridium's potential buyers and who's left for Viasat?" (tmfassociates.com, 2026-08-26T00:27Z), Farrar identifies three parties that reportedly circled Iridium before Rocket Lab's winning bid — a private-equity firm offering $41-45/share all-cash that wouldn't raise its price, a party requiring "a strategic partner" (plausibly AST SpaceMobile) that dropped out after two weeks of diligence, and a third that expressed interest via CEO outreach but never bid (plausibly Viasat) — and notes Amazon and SpaceX showed no interest at all. He argues current speculation about a bidding war for Viasat's L-band spectrum is likely overstated: SpaceX and Amazon "want to focus on building their satellite networks rather than paying billions for more spectrum," and AST lacks the balance sheet for a large cash deal without a strategic partner. A doctrine-input read on M&A appetite across this desk's watchlist, not a new event.
Provenance
Logged in the brief of 28 August 2026.
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