ORBCOMM's satellites never carried a phone call. They carried short bursts of data: a truck's location, a tank's fill level, a container's temperature in the middle of the ocean. A fleet of small satellites in low orbit picked up those messages and relayed them to the ground. When ORBCOMM went public in November 2006, connected machines were still a niche, and it was one of the few companies selling a global network built for them.

A Network for Machines

An earlier company built the first ORBCOMM satellites in the 1990s and went bankrupt in 2000. A new ORBCOMM bought the network out of bankruptcy and rebuilt the business around it. Its customers were companies that tracked and monitored equipment, such as trucking fleets, heavy machinery makers, shipping lines and utilities. A small modem on each asset talked to the satellites. ORBCOMM charged for the messages and for the devices.

From Satellites to Buyout

ORBCOMM priced its IPO at $11 a share on November 3, 2006, on Nasdaq. It launched new generations of satellites and bought companies that sold tracking hardware and software, so it could offer the whole system. Growth came slowly, and the stock spent long stretches below its offer price. In 2021 GI Partners agreed to buy ORBCOMM for $11.50 a share in cash. Its shares left Nasdaq that September.

Cover: The Comet, José Guadalupe Posada. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a comet (satellites crossing the sky).