Jeff Bezos has bought The Washington Post. At $250 million it is a snip – when viewed as a fraction of his personal fortune – for one of the great remaining ego trips. That is what owning a big newspaper is all about; always has been, always will be. That doesn’t make it a bad […]
Electronics and media giant Sony is not out of the woods just yet. Despite a Q1 set of results that showed great progress since last year, Fitch Ratings, in a ratings note, says profitability in Sony’s core electronics businesses remains weak, and is not helped by competitive pressures and currency exchange rate risks. Sony’s Q1 […]
On July 31st Eutelsat, along with its end-of-year results, announced it was buying Mexico-based satellite operator SatMex for about $1.1 billion. The deal will probably close by the end of this year. Except the market is not sure it has done the right thing. Investment bank Morgan Stanley, for example, summed up the position saying […]
SiriusXM is borrowing $600 million which it will largely use to pay down existing debt. The bonds will only be available outside the US. The bonds will offer interest of 5.70 per cent, and used to pay down debt due in 2015 with an interest rate of 8.75 per cent. There is no suggestion – […]
The July 2nd catastrophic failure of a Russian Proton-M roc continues to make waves amongst the local rocket-building community. Reports suggest that key attitude sensors were inserted into the rocket upside down. Indeed, one wholly unconfirmed report says that the recovered parts showed signs of being forced into position. Russia’s deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin […]
Luxembourg satellite operator SES’s message last week to be patient and wait for three delayed satellites to launch did not go down well with the market. Formally, SES reduced its guidance for this financial year but left its three-year guidance unchanged. Investment banker Morgan Stanley in a note to clients said this “looks ambitious” and […]
A few days ago it was apparently ‘confirmed’ that the incorrect fitting of key attitude velocity sensors was the “most likely” cause of the failed Proton-M rocket on July 2nd. Now it appears that is not the case. A statement from Russian deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is in charge of Russia’s space industry, […]
It is now officially acknowledged that the July 2nd catastrophic failure of a Proton-M rocket was caused by the insertion of crucial sensors upside-down. The mistake affected three of six yaw angular velocity sensors on the unmanned rocket, said deputy head of Roscosmos, Alexander Lopatin, citing a state commission’s investigation of the crash in a […]
Inside Satellite reported on Avanti Communications’ interim financial statement on July 10th, stating that they have debts of some £500 million. This was wrong. Their gross debt is just £205 million, and they have cash at hand of £38 million. But there are still quite a few hurdles ahead for Avanti, and bills to be […]
Within the satellite industry there are more than a few stories of manufacturing problems. One – perhaps an industry myth – talks of an empty Cola can being left inside a satellite. Another – unfortunately not a myth – tells of incorrect software being fed into a computer that caused a rocket launch to be […]