***Boeing Acquires Hughes Satellite Units for $3.75 Billion
(January 17)
According to Tribune Business News, Boeing has agreed to buy
three Hughes Electronics satellite businesses for $3.75 billion
in cash. The businesses - Hughes Space and Communications, Hughes
Electron Dynamics, and Spectrolab - are in El Segundo. They
employ about 9,000. The companies will continue to be run by
Hughes's Tig Krekel, but will report to Boeing's Seal Beach-based
Space and Communications division.
The deal makes Boeing, already the world's largest aircraft
manufacturer, its largest satellite builder. It also gives the
company access to technology Boeing needs to advance mobile
communications on its commercial and military jets.
From a financial perspective, the purchase is one additional
layer of insulation from the cyclical and highly competitive
world of commercial aviation, where Boeing faces growing
competition from Airbus Industrie.
Wave Issue 2003 1/19/00 Article 6-01