Lockheed Martin is acquiring satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital, taking the smaller company private and potentially rescuing it from running out of cash while facing serious debt.
Although Terran Orbital itself wasn’t founded until 2013, its history goes back to the late ’90s, to the development of the CubeSat, which became the flagship in a new wave of small satellites. More recently, the company went public by merging with a SPAC in 2022, at a valuation of $1.8 billion.
The two companies already had a relationship, with Lockheed Martin Ventures making several investments in Terran Orbital, going back to 2017. In fact, Lockheed already owned a 28.3% stake in Terran Orbital, while Lockheed contracts represent about 70% of Terran Orbital’s revenue and 91% of its backlog.
So Lockheed definitely had some incentive to save the satellite manufacturer from going under. It even tried to acquire Terran Orbital earlier this year, but at the time the smaller company used a “poison pill” to prevent the deal.
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