In May 2023, Maxar was acquired by private equity firm Advent International, in an all-cash transaction worth $6.4billion.[4][5]
Maxar's satellite data was used by Ukraine as part of its defense against Russia's invasion of its territory.[6] In March 2025, Maxar was pressured by the Donald Trump administration to shut down Ukraine's access to the data.[6]
History
Maxar Technologies was created in 2017 from the purchase of DigitalGlobe by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), who renamed the company Maxar.[7] The headquarters of the combined entity was then established in Westminster, Colorado. The company was dual-listed on the TSX and NYSE.[8][9]
In Q3 2018 Maxar's revenue and adjusted profit missed estimates due to a decline in its satellite manufacturing segment oriented towards geosynchronous Earth orbit communications, which led to a plunge in the stock price.[10] The situation was compounded in January 2019 with the loss of their relatively new WorldView-4 satellite, and the market capitalization fell from $3 to $0.3 billion in half a year,[11] and with an insurance payment only covering a fifth of WV-4 total launch cost the company had to restructure its debts in April 2019.[12]
In May 2019, the company was selected as the provider of the power and propulsion element for the Lunar Gateway developed by NASA.[13]
On December 30, 2019, the company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell MDA's assets to a consortium of financial sponsors led by Northern Private Capital for CA$1 billion (US$765 million). The sale includes all of MDA's Canadian businesses, encompassing ground stations, radar satellite products, robotics, defense, and satellite components, representing approximately 1,900 employees.[14]
On April 8, 2020, the sale of MDA to NPC officially closed. The divesting of its Canadian MDA portion returned MDA to a separate operating company.[15] The newly formed privately held Canadian company was named MDA Ltd.,[16] which later listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
In September 2023, Maxar was broken into two business units, Maxar Space Systems (based in California, led by CEO Chris Johnson) and Maxar Intelligence (based in Colorado, led by CEO Dan Smoot).[20]
In early March 2025, Maxar Technologies suspended Ukraine's access to its satellite imagery, stating that the request came from the Trump administration.[6][21] Maxar had been a leading provider of satellite data to Ukraine, which the country used as part of its efforts to defend itself against the Russian invasion.[6] The data was used to track the movement of Russian troops and assess damage to Ukrainian infrastructure.[6]
Controversy over BSI Partnership and Pahalgam Imagery Orders (2025)
In May 2025, Maxar Technologies faced scrutiny following reports that it had received an unusual spike in orders for high-resolution satellite images of Pahalgam, a region in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Between February 2 and 22, 2025, at least 12 such orders were placed, which was double the usual number.[22] This surge occurred shortly after Maxar partnered with Business Systems International Pvt Ltd (BSI), a Pakistani geospatial firm.
BSI is owned by Obaidullah Syed, a Pakistani-American businessman who was convicted in 2021 for illegally exporting high-performance computing equipment and software to Pakistan's nuclear research agency. Despite this conviction, BSI was listed as a Maxar partner in 2023.[23] Following the revelations about the satellite imagery orders, Maxar removed BSI from its list of partners on its website.[24]
Maxar stated that BSI had not placed any orders for imagery of Pahalgam or its surrounding areas in 2025 and had not accessed any such imagery from its archives. However, the timing of the imagery orders and BSI's partnership raised concerns among defense analysts and experts.[25]
In May 2025, it was further reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had earlier complained that BSI had sold satellite imagery to an arm of the Pakistani government. This raised additional concerns about the firm’s access to sensitive geospatial data and its ties to Maxar Technologies.[26]
Timeline
This article contains a list that has not been properly sorted.Specifically, it does not follow the Manual of Style for lists of works (often, though not always, due to being in reverse-chronological order). See MOS:LISTSORT for more information. Please improve this article if you can.(March 2022)
1969: John MacDonald and Vern Dettwiler founded MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates.
1993: MDA sells its Electro-Optical Division (EOP) based in Richmond Canada to a Swiss Private Equity firm which merges with Cymbolic Sciences based in California.
1996: acquired Iotek, a supplier of signal processing and sonar technology for military customers, for undisclosed sum[28]
2000: entered joint venture with LandAmerica Financial Group to create LandMDA, a provider of property reports to lenders[29]
2000/01: Orbital Sciences divested its MDA shares through an initial public offering; trades as TSX:MDA[citation needed]
2002: acquired Automated Mining Systems of Aurora, Ontario for $225,000[30]
2002: acquired Dynacs for $3.1 million, with an additional $6.8 million contingent on performance[31] (now "MDA US Systems, LLC", located in Houston, Texas)
2003: acquired Millar & Bryce, a commercial provider of land information in Scotland, for $21.32 million, with $1.76 million contingent on performance.[32]
2004: acquired Marshall & Swift / Boeckh for $337.8 million, with $104.9 million contingent on performance.[31]
2005: acquired business of EMS Technologies Canada (previously RCA Canada, which then became the Montreal division of SPAR Aerospace), a major supplier and subcontractor, for $8.9 million[31]
2006: expanded into financial services with acquisition of Mindbox, a supplier of advanced decision systems for mortgage lending, for US$12.6 million, with up to $10.75 million contingent on performance[31]
2006: acquired xit2 Ltd. (Nr Charlbury, Oxfordshire, UK), information exchange solutions[buzzword] for lenders and home surveyors and other outsourced service providers[33]
2006: acquired Lyttle & Co. (Belfast, Northern Ireland), property and related search information[34]
2007: acquired Alliance Spacesystems, Inc.[35] (now "Maxar Space Robotics LLC", located in Pasadena, CA, US)
2008: MDA announced the sale of its Information Systems and Geospatial Services operations to Alliant Techsystems of Edina, Minnesota for $1.325 billion.[36] However, amongst much media coverage, the sale was rejected by the federal government of Canada under the Investment Canada Act.[37]
2008: Canadian government officially blocked the sale of MDA to ATK on May 8, 2008[38]
2012: acquired Space Systems/Loral for US$875 million, making MDA one of the world's leading communication satellite companies.[39]
2017: Completed its acquisition of DigitalGlobe, MDA now will be named Maxar Technologies, dual-listed on NYSE and TSX.[3] MDA will then be a subsidiary of US-based Maxar by 2019.[41]
2018: Announced acquisition of Neptec for $32 million.[42]
2020: MDA is sold to a consortium of Canadian investors led by Northern Private Capital. This sale includes the Houston-based MDA US Systems, LLC.[15]
2020: Completed its acquisition of Vricon, Inc for $140 million. Vricon is a global leader in satellite-derived 3D data for defense and intelligence markets [44]
2022: Maxar to be taken private through an acquisition led by Advent International, in a cash deal worth $6.4billion.[5][45] The acquisition completed in May 2023.[4]
2024: Maxar Intelligence launches WorldView Legion a fleet of six high-performing satellites that dramatically expanded the ability to revisit the most rapidly changing areas on Earth, enabling more near-time insights.[46]
2025: Maxar shuts down access to satellite images in Ukraine following request from the Trump administration.
2025: Came under scrutiny for Pahalgam imagery orders and prior partnership with BSI, a Pakistani firm flagged by U.S. Homeland Security for selling satellite data to Pakistan’s government.[47]
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US$1.61 billion (2022)
US$4.61 billion (2022)
