Rumors that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is planning to buy Skybox Imaging are gaining traction, with many sources saying that the process has reached an advanced stage. This would be a good fit with Google’s recent acquisition of Titan Aerospace, snatching the drone maker from under the nose of Facebook. According to reliable sources, there have been three rounds of acquisition talks between Google, and Skybox, so far. Google may not only be interested in Skybox, as further rumors point to them considering a similar satellite based company, called Planet Labs.
If Skybox is acquired, it will not be cheap. The market consensus for the acquisition cost is around $1 billion. During the last round of financing in 2012, when Skybox raised $70 million, the company was given an estimated value of between $500 million, and $700 million. If Google goes ahead, it would have several advantages. The most obvious is a new and productive source of data for Google’s consumer mapping service. Some of Google’s existing data used in Google Earth, is years out of date, and Skybox would provide an alternative primary source.
Skybox currently gets its data from a single satellite that it has in orbit. It recently ordered 13 more satellites, to increase its global coverage, with launch dates in 2015, and 2016. It has a second satellite that is due for launch in June, on a Soyuz vehicle. This Russian controlled launch will be in Kazakhstan at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. However, recent tension between Russian, and the U.S., could delay this launch. Google is continuing to try and diversify, in order to gain revenues streams, away from its core search related advertising business.
