Paul Jacobs, the former CEO and chairman of San Diego-based chipmaker Qualcomm, was tapped to lead the satellite firm that makes Apple’s emergency communication service possible.
Louisiana-based Globalstar appointed Jacobs as CEO and to its board of directors effective immediately, following the retirement of its previous leader, David Kagan. Globalstar, a publicly traded company with a roughly $2.4 billion market cap, operates low Earth orbit satellites that enable satellite communication and data services.
Last year, Globalstar partnered with Apple to launch its Emergency SOS feature that allows iPhone 14 s to text for help even without a cell signal. In a similar effort, Qualcomm has made strides to connect Android phones to its Snapdragon satellite for emergency and short non-emergency messages.
“I have devoted my career to advancing and commercializing innovation in wireless technology and am thrilled to continue this journey as CEO of Globalstar,” Jacobs said in the announcement. “The teams I’ve led have demonstrated the value creation that is possible by applying new technology to enhance capacity of underappreciated spectrum, and that is one of the many opportunities I see at Globalstar.”
Jacobs, the son of Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs, holds multiple degrees from the University of California Berkeley, including a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science.
He led Qualcomm, San Diego’s largest public company, as chief executive from 2005 to 2014, then as executive chairman until 2018. During his tenure, Jacobs navigated legal challenges to Qualcomm’s licensing business by Nokia and spent heavily on 4G technology research during the 2008 economic downturn, which resulted in the company having a substantial lead on competitors in 4G LTE networks from 2010 to 2014.
He left the board in March 2018 after exploring steps to take Qualcomm private following a failed hostile takeover attempt from rival Broadcom.
In recent years, Jacobs’ focus has been on XCOM Labs, a San Diego technology startup he founded in 2018 alongside fellow Qualcomm alums.
In 2021, XCOM formed a strategic alliance with Globalstar and now, it will license the startup’s technology through a strategic perpetual licensing agreement.
In addition to Jacobs, Globalstar is hiring executives from the local startup, including former Qualcomm leaders, to bolster its satellite and terrestrial spectrum areas of the business.
Matt Grob, one of the startup’s co-founders, who served as chief technology officer of XCOM, worked at Qualcomm for more than 26 years and served as its chief technology officer. Peter Black, XCOM Labs’ chief scientist, was a senior vice president of technology and fellow at Qualcomm, where he worked on wireless system designs spanning 2G to 6G.
