Terran Orbital CEO Marc Bell told employees Monday the company is not looking for a buyer in an effort to quash a report that it was seeking bids by the end of the month, according to sources who spoke to TechCrunch. Bell’s comments came during an all-hands meeting with staff, following a Wall Street Journal article that the satellite manufacturer was up for sale.
“We are not looking for a buyer,” Bell said, according to sources who were at the meeting. Instead, he told staff that if the board (which he chairs) decided on a take-private deal, Bell and his longtime business partner Dan Sid would buy the company themselves.
Bell did say that the company is looking for strategic investors, similar to Lockheed Martin — a sizable investor in the company and a main customer.
Terran Orbital did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. TechCrunch will update the article if Terran Orbital responds.
His statements contradict a regulatory filing posted Monday by Terran Orbital. In that filing, the company confirmed that it was engaged in a “formal review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value,” a process that could include sale of the company, among other outcomes.
The news caused Terran’s stock price to crater, with the value per share falling around 25% — from $1.03 at yesterday’s close to around $0.77 as of publication. The company’s shares have been teetering below a dollar almost consistently from the end of August; the company faces the looming threat of delisting if it is unable to raise its stock price.
It’s a precipitous fall for the company, which was trading at $10.96 after going public in March of last year.
