Length18h 46m
About this audiobook
The incredible story of Iridium—the most complex satellite system ever built, the cell phone of the future, and one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in American history—and one man’s desperate race to save it.
In the early 1990s, Motorola, the legendary American technology company, developed a revolutionary satellite system called Iridium that promised to be its crowning achievement. Light years ahead of anything previously put into space, and built on technology developed for Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars,” Iridium’s constellation of sixty-six satellites in polar orbit meant that no matter where you were on Earth, at least one satellite was always overhead, and you could call Tibet from Fiji without a delay and without your call ever touching a wire.
Iridium the satellite system was a mind-boggling technical accomplishment, surely the future of communication. The only problem was that Iridium the company was a commercial disaster. Only months after launching service, it was $11 billion in debt, burning through $100 million a month, and crippled by baroque rate plans and agreements that forced calls through Moscow, Beijing, Fucino, Italy, and elsewhere. Bankruptcy was inevitable—the largest to that point in American history. And when no real buyers seemed to materialize, it looked like Iridium would go down as just a “science experiment.”
That is, until Dan Colussy got a wild idea. Colussy, a former head of Pan-Am now retired and working on his golf game in Palm Beach, heard about Motorola’s plans to “de-orbit” the system and decided he would buy Iridium and somehow turn around one of the biggest blunders in the history of business.
In Eccentric Orbits, John Bloom masterfully traces the conception, development, and launching of Iridium and Colussy’s tireless efforts to stop it from being destroyed, from meetings with his motley investor group, to the Clinton White House, the Pentagon, and the hunt for customers in special ops, shipping, aviation, mining, search and rescue—anyone who would need a durable phone at the end of the Earth. Impeccably researched and wonderfully told, Eccentric Orbits is a rollicking, unforgettable tale of technological achievement, business failure, the military-industrial complex, and one of the greatest deals of all time.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.2 (2.1K)
Includes Amazon, Goodreads, StoryGraph, LibraryThing
GenreBusiness and Economics, Science and Nature
Length18 hrs 46 mins
Narrated byDonald Corren
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJun 7, 2016
LanguageEnglish
Never Split the DifferenceChris Voss, Tahl Raz8h 7m4.4 (277.7K)$26 · $0.00
The Intelligent Investor Rev Ed.Benjamin Graham17h 48m4.3 (191.5K)$40 · $0.00
The Hard Thing About Hard ThingsBen Horowitz7h 57m4.2 (134.3K)$26 · $0.00
Boundaries for LeadersHenry Cloud7h 36m4.3 (3.6K)$26 · $0.00
This Is Going to HurtAdam Kay5h 47m4.4 (444.7K)$24 · $0.00
Big TrustShadé Zahrai, Fayçal Sekkouah8h 36m4.6 (406)$26 · $0.00
The Intelligent Investor Third EditionBenjamin Graham, Jason Zweig20h4.4 (156.6K)$46 · $0.00
Bottle of LiesKatherine Eban14h 25m4.4 (12K)$33 · $0.00
The Antiracist Business BookTrudi Lebrón6h 10m4.6 (275)$17 · $0.00
The FormulaJoshua Robinson, Jonathan Clegg10h 41m4.4 (6.9K)$29 · $0.00
Let Them LeadJohn U. Bacon7h 10m4.5 (1.4K)$24 · $0.00
Secrets of the Millionaire MindT. Harv Eker5h 11m4.4 (301.4K)$24 · $0.00
The Person You Mean to BeDolly Chugh9h 6m4.4 (7.2K)$29 · $0.00
BoundlessNick Kostov, Sean McLain9h 17m4.5 (1.1K)$29 · $0.00
Everyday DharmaSuneel Gupta5h 2m4.5 (761)$20 · $0.00
Let's Talk Mutual FundsMonika Halan7h 5m4.4 (2.4K)$16 · $0.00
The Law of Success in Sixteen LessonsNapoleon Hill2h 39m4.4 (17.2K)$2 · $0.00
Barbarians at the GateBryan Burrough, John Helyar3h 3m4.4 (52.7K)$18 · $0.00
JumpSteve Harvey4h 24m4.4 (4.5K)$20 · $0.00
AngelJason Calacanis8h 20m4.4 (4.4K)$26 · $0.00
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
The Story of BirdsSteve Brusatte11h 49m4.6 (401)$29 · $0.00
How Stella Learned to TalkChristina Hunger7h4.5 (10.9K)$24 · $0.00
Craig & FredCraig Grossi8h 6m4.5 (9.6K)$26 · $0.00
Celebrating BirdsNatalia Rojas, Ana Maria Martinez6h 47m4.6 (330)$24 · $0.00
Saving JemimaJulie Zickefoose4h 59m4.5 (749)$20 · $0.00
Will's Red CoatTom Ryan8h 23m4.5 (2.3K)$26 · $0.00
Of Time and TurtlesSy Montgomery10h 34m4.5 (5K)$29 · $0.00
Zen and the Art of Saving the PlanetThich Nhat Hanh9h 20m4.5 (3.9K)$29 · $0.00
Bottle of LiesKatherine Eban14h 25m4.4 (12K)$33 · $0.00
IngrainedCallum Robinson8h 10m4.5 (1.1K)$26 · $0.00
The Lion Tracker's Guide To LifeBoyd Varty3h 1m4.4 (4.8K)$18 · $0.00
Born for LoveBruce D. Perry, Maia Szalavitz11h 42m4.4 (4K)$29 · $0.00
The Mountains of California (With Original Drawings & Photographs) (Annotated)John Muir11h 35m4.5 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
The New GuysMeredith Bagby16h 50m4.4 (1.2K)$40 · $0.00
Blue PasturesMary Oliver3h 23m4.4 (3.8K)$18 · $0.00
The Rise and Reign of the MammalsSteve Brusatte13h 26m4.4 (11.1K)$33 · $0.00
VaccinatedPaul A. Offit8h 30m4.4 (3.7K)$26 · $0.00
The Light EatersZoë Schlanger10h 57m4.4 (22.8K)$29 · $0.00
Where the Lost Dogs GoSusannah Charleson11h 7m4.5 (699)$23 · $0.00
You may also like
Apollo 1Ryan S. Walters9h 18m4.1 (583)$20
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
In the Shadow of the MoonAmy Cherrix6h 42m4.1 (298)$24 · $0.00
The Damocles AgendaJeff Edwards8h 39m4.2 (446)$20
Atomic AdventuresJames Mahaffey13h 29m4.0 (3.3K)$23
SpacefarersChristopher Wanjek12h 1m4.1 (471)$23
Mission to MarsBuzz Aldrin4h 47m3.9 (1.7K)$17
Death WaveBen Bova10h 25m3.6 (1.3K)$23
The Green Hills of EarthRobert A. Heinlein6h 32m4.1 (11.4K)$14
Across the Airless WildsEarl Swift10h 8m4.3 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
ApolloCharles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox18h 15m4.6 (3.9K)$30
Red ThunderJohn Varley13h 34m4.0 (2.4K)$23
Servants of the WankhJack Vance5h 49m4.0 (2.2K)$14
Steal across the SkyNancy Kress10h 48m3.6 (1.7K)$21
When the Heavens Went on SaleAshlee Vance18h 20m4.4 (3K)$40 · $0.00
Mars: Our New Home?National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Congress5h 38m$2 · $0.00
The Best Novels of Murray LeinsterMurray Leinster92h 23m4.0 (159)$1 · $0.00
EnergizedEdward M. Lerner14h 59m3.3 (213)$23
Planet of Doom and three more storiesStephen Marlowe5h 58m$2.30
The Greatest Works of Mack Reynolds (Illustrated Edition) (Annotated)Mack Reynolds, George Schelling, Lloyd Birmingham41h 27m$2 · $0.00