Globalstar appoints Paul Jacobs as Chief Executive Officer

Globalstar has appointed Paul E. Jacobs, founder and CEO of XCOM Labs and former CEO and Executive Chairman of Qualcomm, as CEO, effective immediately. Jacobs has also been appointed to Globalstar’s Board of Directors. He succeeds David Kagan, who will retire as Globalstar’s CEO.

Jacobs is an accomplished leader and innovator who brings to Globalstar deep wireless industry experience and a track record of driving innovation-led growth, including growing Qualcomm’s revenues from $5.7bn to $25.7bn as CEO from 2005 to 2014 while adding approximately $50bn to its market capitalisation. As Globalstar’s CEO, he will drive the company’s ongoing strategic initiatives to develop and deploy innovative solutions across terrestrial and satellite for customers around the world.

In conjunction with Dr Jacobs’ appointment, Globalstar has also entered into a strategic perpetual licensing agreement for exclusive access to certain key XCOM technologies and personnel. The license covers a number of XCOM’s novel technologies for wireless spectrum innovations, including XCOMP, XCOM’s commercially available coordinated multipoint radio system. XCOMP delivers substantial capacity gains and other benefits in dense, complex, challenging wireless environments in the sub-7 GHz spectrum. Globalstar also gains exclusive access to XCOM’s peer-to-peer connectivity technologies that could have applications across cellular and satellite devices.

Speaking about the new role, Dr Jacobs said: “I have devoted my career to advancing and commercializing innovation in wireless technology and am thrilled to continue this journey as CEO of Globalstar. The teams I’ve led have demonstrated the value creation that is possible by applying new technology to enhance the capacity of the underappreciated spectrum, and that is one of the many opportunities I see at Globalstar.”

Jacobs continued: “Bringing together Globalstar’s terrestrial spectrum and relationships with leading partners around the world with XCOM’s differentiated technology, which is well suited for high-performance applications, creates a significant opportunity to deliver for private network customers with mission-critical needs. At the same time, Globalstar’s continued innovations in satellite connectivity are just as exciting, particularly in small form-factor devices. Through the combination of Globalstar’s resources and XCOM’s technology, we can bring even more innovation to market. I look forward to working with the talented Globalstar team and its many commercial partners to advance growth across the Company’s four well-articulated strategic pillars and create long-term shareholder value.”

Globalstar Executive Chairman Jay Monroe stated: “We have deep respect and familiarity developed from a close working relationship with the XCOM team over the last 20 years. Some of XCOM’s leaders contributed to the original Globalstar system while at Qualcomm, and we believe we will continue to break new ground with this team. Paul is a technology pioneer and proven leader who is well-suited to drive Globalstar’s next phase of growth across our satellite and terrestrial assets and cement our position as a market disruptor. The engineering prowess extends throughout the XCOM organization, including Matt Grob, Peter Black, Tamer Kadous and Daaman Hejmadi, amongst many others. Our partnerships with world-class customers, including our pioneering work in direct-to-device connectivity from our satellites, as well as our collaborations with Qualcomm, Nokia and others with Band n53, demonstrate the strength of Globalstar’s momentum and growing commercial solutions. We expect that Paul’s leadership, combined with this licensing agreement, will boost Globalstar’s ability to unlock the value of our global satellite and terrestrial assets and accelerate the introduction of new and innovative solutions for our customers, with the continued goal of driving long-term shareholder value.”

Monroe added: “I also want to thank David Kagan for leading Globalstar so capably since 2017, helping build the foundation for the Company’s future growth and supporting a seamless transition of his duties to Dr. Jacobs and the new team.”