Rocket Lab (RKLB): the Iridium deal, $1.9 billion of new shares, and a stock 55% below its May high
By Gabriel Zacarkim · Published Oct 11, 2026 · Data as of Oct 9, 2026 close (13F positions as of June 30, 2026)
Rocket Lab closed at $68.21 on October 9, 2026, worth $43.6 billion. That is 2.7% above where it was a year earlier but 54.6% below its highest close, $150.23 on May 27, 2026, and 32.9% below the June 30 close of $101.65. The company has never been profitable: it lost $198 million in 2025 on $602 million of revenue.
Buying Iridium
On June 28, 2026, Rocket Lab agreed to acquire Iridium Communications. Each Iridium share is to receive $27.00 in cash plus Rocket Lab shares worth about $27.00, within a collar: the exchange ratio is $27.00 divided by Rocket Lab’s average price before closing, but never more than 0.4000 shares (if Rocket Lab is at or below $67.50) nor less than 0.2400 (at or above $112.50). On October 9, Rocket Lab traded 71 cents above the bottom of that range. Iridium would owe Rocket Lab a $223.6 million fee if it walked away for a better offer. The deal is expected to close in mid-2027, pending regulatory approvals.
To pay for it, Rocket Lab first lined up a $3.6 billion bridge loan from Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo. On September 15 it said it had instead completed an at-the-market sale of new shares raising about $1.944 billion, which, with cash on hand, covers the cash part; Iridium’s $1.775 billion credit facility was amended to stay in place after the deal, and the bridge loan was cancelled. The filings do not connect any of this to the stock’s decline.
Record revenue, still losing money
| Period | Revenue | Net income |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $211M | −$136M |
| 2023 | $245M | −$183M |
| 2024 | $436M | −$190M |
| 2025 | $602M | −$198M |
| Q1 2026 | $200M | −$45M |
| Q2 2026 | $234M | −$49M |
Second-quarter revenue was a record $234 million, up 62% from a year earlier, and backlog reached a record $2.36 billion (+137%). The company guided to third-quarter revenue of $250 million to $265 million. It closed the acquisitions of Mynaric and Motiv during the quarter and says production of its Neutron rocket is aligned with delivery to the launch pad in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Funds left
| Manager | Shares, Jun 30 | Value, Jun 30 | Change in shares vs. Mar 31 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baillie Gifford | 10,384,512 | $1,055.6M | −43.6% |
| Cliff Asness (AQR) | 354,071 | $34.9M | +140.5% |
| Renaissance Technologies | 48,600 | $4.9M | new (held in 2025) |
| Ray Dalio (Bridgewater) | 11,267 | $1.1M | −32.6% |
| Steve Cohen (Point72) | 10,000 | $1.0M | new (held in 2025) |
| Ken Griffin (Citadel) | 0 | — | sold out (816,681 shares) |
| Israel Englander (Millennium) | 0 | — | sold out (137,207 shares) |
| Two Sigma | 0 | — | sold out (9,436 shares) |
Five of the 38 managers held Rocket Lab at the end of June, down from six in March and eight at the end of 2025, with 10.8 million shares between them against 19.6 million in March. Almost all of it is Baillie Gifford, which cut its stake by 44% in the second quarter; Ken Griffin’s Citadel sold its 816,681 shares. A 13F does not say whether these trades came before or after the June 28 agreement.
Insiders
From mid-August to early October, executives sold $27.0 million of stock and none bought. $21.5 million went through 10b5-1 trading plans — $18.7 million of it by finance chief Adam Spice — and $5.5 million were sales to cover taxes on vesting shares. Daily data is on the Rocket Lab page. Not investment advice.
Sources
- 8-K: merger agreement with Iridium (Jun 29, 2026)
- Q2 2026 results release (Aug 10, 2026)
- Rocket Lab 10-Q, Q2 2026
- Release: Iridium acquisition fully funded (Sep 15, 2026)
For information only, not investment advice. The figures come from the filings listed above and describe what happened, not what will.