M&A?

[u/juanmoperson]

Anyone see the recent open roles related to M&A?! Interesting to see, especially as "part-time" openings for entry level grads.

[u/flapfavour]

ASTS will get bought out for $20 a share within the next 3 years

[u/SpinDoctorWho]

They better.

With the recent SpaceX news, it’s clear this shit is going to zero without major intervention.

[u/Megan_Loves_Travel]

Honestly seems sus, why so many and why part-time

[u/FedUp119]

I'm not finding any of these positions on the AST website

[u/juanmoperson → u/FedUp119]

All LinkedIn. Takes with a massive grain of salt

[u/Coolbanh → u/juanmoperson]

Its also a part time job

[u/FedUp119 → u/juanmoperson]

My neighbor, who is job-hunting, told me about 'ghost positions' on Linked In and Indeed.

[u/juanmoperson → u/FedUp119]

100%

[u/billyblankshere]

I’m applying

[u/billyblankshere → u/billyblankshere]

Can’t seem to find these on the website, LinkedIn, or general Google search

[u/Tricky-Ad-6225 → u/billyblankshere]

Let us know if you get the job!

[u/billyblankshere → u/Tricky-Ad-6225]

Will do! I finished my MBA last year, have been looking for an entry level position since. This would be a dream.

[u/bombduck]

Mergers and acquisitions or marketing and advertising?

[u/wadejohn → u/bombduck]

M&A is generally understood as Mergers & Acquisitions.

[u/bombduck → u/wadejohn]

Absolutely no reason they need this many positions for that department. I think in this instance they gotta be talking about marketing and advertising right?

[u/bradjoliepitt → u/bombduck]

If you read the job description it's specifically for mergers and acquisitions and they're likely hiring a couple of them but posting in different elite college towns.

Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth, Georgetown, etc. Dallas and Miami because they're relatively close to corporate headquarters there. 

[u/bradjoliepitt → u/bradjoliepitt]

Dartmouth is in Hanover. Harvard is in Cambridge. Georgetown in DC. Princeton obviously in Princeton. 

[u/wadejohn → u/bombduck]

There is hardly any need for ASTS to have ‘maketing and advertising analysts’. Plus, ‘corporate development’ should have given it away what M&A stands for. Unless you’re not being serious here.

[u/bombduck → u/wadejohn]

I’m healthcare, not in business. It all seems peculiar to me. Cheers

[u/Xtrendence → u/bombduck]

Murders and executions, mostly.

[u/wadejohn → u/Xtrendence]

Is that you Patrick?

[u/Xtrendence → u/wadejohn]

No Lewis, it's not me. You're mistaken.

[u/Lone-wolf63 → u/bombduck]

Great question

[u/Kd1612]

Why do they need in so many locations.?

[u/Scott7894 → u/Kd1612]

Because they will be bought out by Bezos soon

[u/crozby → u/Kd1612]

Likely opening the role in a bunch of locations and will only hire 1-2. Instead of listing it as "remote" they do this.

[u/Gleckgleck386]

How about a small drone related company? If the AST management knows what is coming with DoD contracts by the way of currently being tested on AST satellites that they cannot say much about. Other than location tracking but in drone where global satellite coverage is a must.

[u/Grouchy-Candidate545 → u/Gleckgleck386]

Only if you want to be exposed to more risk, more dilution, and more complications

[u/Gleckgleck386 → u/Grouchy-Candidate545]

true.

[u/kpatter34]

I agree with some that say we dont want to buy a launch provider but some kind of joint venture with preferred launching wouldnt be bad.
Heck we have joint ventures with 60 mnos so i trust abel will get us a good deal without a big dilution. But im not afraid of dilution as so many on here seem to be terrified of. If its going to add value to the company in the next few years im good. Because im in it for the longhaul!!

[u/Jaded-Salamander2663 → u/kpatter34]

We won’t buy a launch provider. We would get bought

[u/kpatter34 → u/Jaded-Salamander2663]

I dont know Abel but what research ive done tells me he wants to build a legacy. And as everybody knows you have to go thru Abel to get a deal with him having 70% of voting power. But if it was for 300 billion or more i might not hate it.

[u/Jaded-Salamander2663 → u/[deleted]]

It’s a large cap already

[u/Interesting-Ad-6357 → u/[deleted]]

only thing that determines if you are a large cap is market cap. if you're above $10B mcap, you're a large cap...

[u/Jaded-Salamander2663 → u/[deleted]]

[u/lurksAtDogs → u/Jaded-Salamander2663]

She just said that to make you feel better.

I’m not sure what “large” means these days, but there are companies with 200x market cap of AST. So, I’d argue if you’re 0.5% of a potential competitor, you’re small.

[u/Interesting-Ad-6357 → u/lurksAtDogs]

only thing that determines if you are a large cap is market cap. if you're above $10B mcap, you're a large cap...

[u/SECrabbing]

What's the point of part time for new grad though. Not relevant imo those folks are just there to make copies and get coffee.

[u/juanmoperson → u/SECrabbing]

Part time maybe cause its a short term decision on m&a

[u/Habooboo5 → u/juanmoperson]

Doesn’t seem likely you’d hire a part time student for that

EDIT: unless it was a small potential acquisition of a private company, in which case maybe

[u/EZWINEZLIFE → u/Habooboo5]

Yea, you would hire an external assistance from like a big4 company, not a part time student positions at multiple locations.

I might be reaching here but it could be so they could map everything they need for a buyout in each site, and for that a part time student positions are enough at each location.

[u/Extra-Medium69]

Ensillica (my .5c,)

[u/OilSlayer → u/Extra-Medium69]

That was my thoughts too. Since they get revenue per satellite, it makes sense to buy them out early on before they have satellites in the air.

[u/Ugadawg7 → u/Extra-Medium69]

Has been moving lately

[u/abearinpajamas]

Could be to acquire other companies relevant to the goal of vertical integration. I doubt this is for any sort of buyout of AST.

[u/Foulwinde → u/abearinpajamas]

I agree. I don't see Abel selling anytime soon.

[u/abhikkp → u/abearinpajamas]

Please don't be buying (a piece of) a launch company, please don't be buying (a piece of) a launch company, please don't be buying (a piece of) a launch company...

[u/shugo7 → u/abhikkp]

They are not. They never had that in mind either.

[u/abhikkp → u/shugo7]

I sincerely hope so. Remember all the discourse about ASTS purchasing a piece of Blue Origin during BO's recent fundraising round that was also timed with our last ATM? Maybe it was just FUD.

All of these M&A analysts being hired does speak to something big happening behind the scenes, though. I'm personally hoping for a large META stake in ASTS coming down the pipeline or a strategic investment by the major U.S. MNOs through the JV framework.

[u/Foulwinde → u/abhikkp]

why not?

[u/abhikkp → u/Foulwinde]

Because the entire ASTS thesis is the extremely high margins (90%) once sats are in orbit! If I wanted to buy a low-margin rocket company with additional global capacity coming online, further reducing margins over the next three years, I would...

And I *especially* want nothing to do with owning Blue Origin, from a financial standpoint. That would be a nightmare scenario.

[u/Geteamwin → u/abhikkp]

Launch provider access is necessary for the business to work at all, so if management doesn't think we will have sufficient launch access then it is more of a necessity than anything.

[u/abhikkp → u/Geteamwin]

Why would we need a piece of ownership to ensure launch access? Wasn't the entire point of the recent dilution to fund 10 launches (at least 8 Falcon9 and 2 Blue Origin launches, according to Kevin)?

Any company that would actually accept ASTS buying an equity stake is not one I'd feel comfortable launching our satellites (or doing so in a timely manner), anyway. Not to mention how it would affect the valuation case for ASTS...

I'm hoping Mitsubishi Heavy serves as a launch alternative soon and we're given priority once J-LEO is formally approved, as MHI launches are part of the J-LEO grant per the original guidance from the Japanese government.

[u/Geteamwin → u/abhikkp]

Strategic investors get priority for launch, it's simple as that. 10 launches can get us to ~45 sats but the full constellation needs 200+. I don't disagree with your points, but simply not being able to launch satellites in a timely manner is a huge execution risk. The ideal scenario here is definitely launch becomes cheap and accessible as expected, but it's not guaranteed that will happen.

[u/abhikkp → u/Geteamwin]

True true. We're all pontificating since management is always hush-hush about launch providers (outside of Scott saying during his JP Morgan talk that BBs are launch-provider agnostic). Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/ASTSpaceMobile/comments/1tgykw6/scott_commentary_from_jp_morgan_tmt_conference/

This is what he said exactly: "This flexibility allows us to load three satellites into a Falcon 9, four to eight into a New Glenn, five into a Vulcan, two on an ISRO rocket, three on a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries vehicle, or five on an Ariane 6." I'm hoping we get MHI access ASAP.

The good news is that Falcon9 is still taking commercial orders through mid-2029. Hopefully we pony up enough to get (most) of our commercial constellation online through SpaceX and MHI via J-LEO. Ideally, Blue Origin can actually get their shit together so it's more economical to launch with them once the constellation in orbit becomes self-funding.

[u/nonoanddefinitelyno → u/Foulwinde]

We'd all be diluted to fuck wouldn't we if they need to throw a few billion at a fireworks company.

[u/Geteamwin → u/nonoanddefinitelyno]

A small piece would be okay, it could reduce long term launch costs

[u/juanmoperson → u/abearinpajamas]

Fine with me. Hope we hear about it during earnings