Europe’s satellite giant, Eutelsat — often positioned as Europe’s answer to Elon Musk’s Starlink — saw its stock tumble over 5% overnight after reports emerged that Japanese multinational SoftBank had offloaded a large batch of subscription rights.
According to a Reuters report, SoftBank sold around 36 million rights, equivalent to roughly 26 million shares and representing about half its stake in the company.
Eutelsat owns OneWeb, the satellite internet provider it merged with in 2023 in a push to rival Starlink’s market dominance.
But despite the merger, the French group has struggled to match Starlink’s scale: Eutelsat’s fleet numbers just over 600 satellites, compared with Starlink’s more than 6,750.
The company’s stock has been on a rollercoaster this year.
After soaring more than 600% in March as Europe sought to boost its technological independence following the U.S. decision to scale back military support to Ukraine, Eutelsat’s shares have since fallen by over 70%.
To stabilise things, the French government stepped in, and in June, Paris led a €1.35 billion (roughly $1.57 billion) investment round to become Eutelsat’s top shareholder with a stake near 30%.
That gave the company access to fresh capital and a lifeline, but not enough to change its market position.
While Eutelsat remains central to Europe’s ambitions for digital sovereignty, the merger with OneWeb hasn’t delivered the dominance many in Brussels were expecting.
Meantime, SoftBank has been reshaping its portfolio and in November sold its entire position in U.S. chipmaker Nvidia to free up funds for new investments, including those linked to OpenAI.
Founder Masayoshi Son told the market on Monday that the group wouldn’t be cashing out of such holdings unless it needed capital to fuel its next wave of AI projects.
Analysts believe SoftBank’s exit from Eutelsat fits with its broader strategy of aggressively monetising assets.
Luke Kehoe of Ookla told CNBC that the funding balance at Eutelsat has shifted: governments and strategic European investors are now driving the recapitalisation, making Eutelsat less of a high-growth story and more of a core component of Europe’s digital infrastructure.
While Starlink continues to dominate consumer broadband thanks to its vast constellation, Kehoe noted that Eutelsat is finding its footing in specialist segments such as government services, aviation, emergency connectivity and network backhaul.
The big question now, notes Kehoe, is whether that higher-value, business-focused strategy can deliver strong returns once the current round of heavy investment settles — and whether Europe is willing to keep funding Eutelsat at the level needed to close the gap with Starlink.
Eutelsat has not yet commented, while SoftBank declined to speak on the matter.
However, the fire-sale structure suggests the Japanese company wasn’t interested in holding through the dilution and in this market, that kind of selling only attracts more selling.
