Google to Sell Its Satellite Business -- WSJ
February 06 2017 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Jack Nicas
Alphabet Inc.'s Google is selling its satellite business to
competitor Planet Labs Inc. for shares in the startup, in a move to
simplify Google's sprawling operations.
Under the deal, Planet would acquire Google's satellite-imagery
Terra Bella unit and its seven satellites in orbit, the companies
said. In exchange, Google would get a stake in Planet and agree to
purchase satellite images from the company for five years. The
companies declined to disclose further details of the deal, which
requires regulatory approval.
Google is selling Terra Bella largely because it believes it can
save money and simplify its business if it buys satellite imagery
from a third party versus launching and operating a network of
satellites itself, a person familiar with the deal said.
Negotiations between the companies took place last month.
Google purchased Terra Bella for $500 million in 2014, when it
was known as Skybox Imaging. The sale is Alphabet's latest move to
shed some of its bolder bets, including the closure of an
internet-beaming-drone project and its effort to sell robot-maker
Boston Dynamics.
Planet Chief Executive Will Marshall said Terra Bella's
satellites capture imagery six times as detailed as the images from
Planet's network of 60 satellites. Planet, based in San Francisco,
also said Friday that it plans to launch an additional 88
satellites later this month, enabling it to photograph all 57.3
million square miles of the Earth's land mass each day, up from
roughly 19 million square miles today.
"By scanning the whole world in medium resolution, we can spot
changes. And then we can point [Terra Bella's] high-resolution
satellites on those changes," Mr. Marshall said. "So it's very
complementary."
Planet plans this year to launch six more Terra Bella
satellites, which weigh about 260 pounds each. Planet's existing
satellites weigh about 10 pounds each.
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 06, 2017 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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