Could a European space company beat Starlink?
April 9, 2025
The proposed merger could produce a joint European space company that could compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink. The talks are at a very exploratory stage, however, and the range of services to be included has not been decided.
It was reported that the three chief executives have been assessing whether the proposed joint venture would be beneficial from a market perspective. Bloomberg reported that Airbus SE had hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for advice.
Roberto Cingolani, Leonardo’s CEO, told CNBC that the companies were working together to determine whether there was a viable synergy between them. He also said that: “It is clear that in such a competitive scenario we need European giants … it’s not something you can do in two months, it really needs a lot of work.”
The three companies were scheduled to meet the EU competition chief Teresa Ribera on Wednesday 9 April in an effort to understand what potential EU antitrust regulatory hurdles could stand in the way of the plan, prior to any formal request for approval of the putative merger.
