Eccentric Orbits - The Iridium Story (Paperback)

In the early 1990s, Motorola, the legendary American radio and telecom company, made a huge gamble on a revolutionary satellite telephone system called Iridium. Light-years ahead of anything previously put into space, built on technology for Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars," Iridium was a mind-boggling technical accomplishment that sent waves of panic through phone companies around the world, because, surely, Iridium was the future of communication. Only months after launching service, bankruptcy was inevitable the largest to that point in American history. It looked like Iridium would go down as just a "science experiment." That is, until Dan Colussy got a wild idea. Colussy, a retired former President of Pan Am, heard about Motorola's plans to "de-orbit" the system and decided he would try to buy Iridium. Somehow, the little guy figured he could turn around one of the biggest blunders in the history of business. Eccentric Orbits masterfully traces the development of satellite technology, the birth of Iridium, and Colussy's tireless efforts to stop it from being destroyed, despite having doors slammed in his face by all of Wall Street. Piecing together funding from a motley group of investors that included a mysterious Arab prince and friends of Jesse Jackson, he eventually made his case before the most powerful people at the Clinton White House, the Pentagon, the FCC, intelligence services, and a consortium of thirty banks, pleading for the only phone that works at the ends of earth. Eccentric Orbits is a rollicking, unforgettable tale of innovation, failure, the military-industrial complex, and one of the greatest deals of all time.

General

Imprint:	Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	May 2023
Authors:	John Bloom
Dimensions:	228 x 152 x 87mm (L x W x H)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	560
ISBN-13:	978-0-8021-2678-8
Categories:	Books > Business & Economics > Business & management > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > History of specific institutions Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Media, information & communication industries > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > History of specific institutions
LSN:	0-8021-2678-2
Barcode:	9780802126788

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!