Skybox deal widens Google’s horizons
Google is buying Skybox Imaging in a deal that could serve as a launching pad for the internet company to send its own fleet of satellites to take aerial pictures and provide online access to remote areas of the world.
The US$500 million ($584 million) acquisition announced yesterday initially will provide Google with the means to improve the quality and immediacy of the satellite imagery used in its digital maps.
Google plans to use Skybox’s satellite to supplement material it licenses from more than 1000 sources, including other satellite companies such as DigitalGlobe and Astrium.
Eventually, though, Skybox could turn into another Google “moonshot” — a term chief executive Larry Page has embraced for describing ambitious projects that could take several years to materialise.
Google hopes to build more satellites that could be used to beam internet access to points around the world. That would expand an effort Google began a year ago when it unveiled Project Loon — featuring jellyfish-shaped balloons equipped with antennas to bring internet to parts of the world without the proper wiring to get online.
The expansion into satellites comes two months after Google bought drone-maker Titan Aerospace for an undisclosed amount.
As the owner of the world’s most popular search engine and email service, Google typically benefits when more people are on the internet to see the ads that generate most of its annual revenue of US$55 billion.
Google has parlayed its prosperity to finance about 250 million acquisitions during the past decade, using many of them to expand into new markets, including maps and mobile devices. To the frustration of some investors, Google also has been spending billions exploring new frontiers of technology, including driverless cars, internet-connected headwear and a startup called Calico striving to slow the ageing process.
Skybox is a five-year-old startup in California, near Google’s headquart- ers in Mountain View. Led by aerospace industry veteran Tom Ingersoll, it has been working on additional satellites that should be easier to complete with Google’s backing.
“The time is right to join a company who can challenge us to think even bigger and bolder, and who can support us in accelerating our ambitious vision,” Skybox said in a blog post.
Skybox, said to employ about 100 people, had previously raised about US$91 million in venture capital.
Google is hoping to gain regulatory approval to take control of Skybox Imaging within the next few months.
The deal needs approval from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as the Federal Communications Commission.