Gogo Closes Acquisition Of Satcom Direct

Gogo announced Dec. 4 that it has completed the acquisition of Satcom Direct, combining two of the leading providers of inflight connectivity to business aviation.

Closing a transaction that surprised industry observers when the companies first revealed it on Sept. 30, Gogo paid $375 million in cash and issued five million shares of its stock to Satcom Direct (SD) ownership. The purchase includes up to $225 million in payments tied to Gogo achieving certain performance goals over the next four years.

As of the closing, SD President Chris Moore has been appointed Gogo CEO, succeeding Oakleigh Thorne, and will lead the combined company. Thorne has been named executive chair of the Gogo board of directors. The combined company is expected to generate 2024 revenue of $890 million.

Broomfield, Colorado-based Gogo says the combination creates the only multi-orbit, multi-band, in-flight connectivity provider serving business aviation as well as military and government mobility markets. Already the leading provider of air-to-ground (ATG) connectivity to business aviation, Gogo will soon launch a new Ku-band satellite offering called Galileo and a newly installed 5G ATG network covering the U.S.

SD, based in Melbourne, Florida, is an inflight connectivity service provider and reseller that has partnered with satellite network operators Eutelsat, Intelsat, Iridium, and Viasat to offer Ku-band and Ka-band broadband and L-band narrowband services.

Previously privately owned, the company builds its own modem units and routers and has developed two tail-mounted, mechanically steered “Plane Simple” antenna systems to connect with the Intelsat FlexExec Ku-band and Viasat Jet ConneX Ka-band services, both based on geostationary (GEO) satellite networks.

Gogo expects the acquisition will accelerate sales Galileo, which will connect with the Eutelsat OneWeb constellation of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Galileo will be offered to SD’s 1,300 broadband customers, and SD’s sales force will promote it to a target market of 12,000 medium and smaller business aircraft outside of North America, as well as to military and government operators.

“Combining with SD 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,” said Thorne. “With the launches of our next-generation LEO and 5G technologies, Gogo and SD are uniquely positioned to drive growth and future value creation.”