In-flight data provider Gogo completed its planned acquisition of once-competitor Satcom Direct on 4 December and named Satcom’s former president Chris Moore as CEO.
Moore succeeds former Gogo chief executive Oakleigh Thorne, who has transitioned to the role of executive chair of Gogo’s board.
Colorado-based Gogo bought Satcom Direct for $375 million in cash plus $5 million in Gogo shares, it said on 4 December.
Gogo could be required to pay Satcom’s former owners up to $225 million more based on reaching performance targets during the next four years.
Prior to the deal, Gogo, a $398 million-revenue company in 2023, primarily sold in-flight connectivity over its air-to-ground network – one in which data transmits from aircraft to ground stations. Satcom Direct, which had been on track to generate about $475 million in revenue this year, provides in-flight data services via satellites. Both companies primarily target the business-aviation industry.
Gogo, which had recently launched its own satellite-based product called Galileo, says the Satcom acquisition will help “accelerate sales” of the Galileo product.
“Combining with [Satcom Direct] cements our position as the only in-flight connectivity provider able to satisfy the performance and cost needs of every segment of the global [business aviation] market,” says Gogo board chair Thorne.
The deal makes Gogo a “multi-orbit, multi-band in-flight connectivity provider”, it adds.
Gogo estimates the combined company will generate about $890 million in 2024 revenue.
Colorado-based Gogo has been in transition for several years. The company had once been a significant player in the business of providing passenger airlines with connectivity systems over its air-to-ground network. But in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic Gogo sold that commercial-aviation division to Intelsat, leaving it primarily a supplier to the business aviation sector.
