BlackRock Reports 5.4% Passive Stake In AST SpaceMobile, 16.1 Million Shares
The asset manager holds the satellite-to-phone company's Class A stock in the ordinary course of business, not to influence control.
BlackRock holds 16,115,870 Class A shares of AST SpaceMobile, or 5.4% of the class, according to a passive ownership disclosure filed Tuesday. AST SpaceMobile, which is building a satellite network to deliver cellular broadband straight to ordinary smartphones, closed Tuesday at $41.96, for a market value of $11.8 billion.
Votes and the 5.4% math
BlackRock reports sole voting power over 14,919,314 of the shares and shared voting power over none. The filing lists September 30, 2026 as the date of the event.
The 5.4% is the cover-page measure, which counts any shares BlackRock could acquire within 60 days. It is not a share of currently outstanding stock.
BlackRock certified that the shares were acquired and are held in the ordinary course of business, not to change or influence control of the company. The filing says various persons have the right to receive dividends or sale proceeds, and that no one person's interest exceeds 5% of the outstanding common shares.
An exhibit lists the BlackRock units covered, among them BlackRock Fund Advisors, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company and BlackRock Investment Management.
A satellite network not yet in service
AST SpaceMobile plans to sell its service through mobile network operators, generally on a revenue-sharing basis, and also plans government uses of the technology. According to its annual report for 2025, the service has not launched and has produced no revenue. Revenue so far has come from US government agreements and from selling gateway equipment, software and services to carriers.
The company has partnerships with over 50 carriers with nearly 3 billion subscribers, and definitive agreements with AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone and Saudi Telecom Company. It is based in Texas.
The shares have fallen 48% over the past year, even as the company added Brazilian spectrum approvals and agreements with four regional operators there. Scotiabank upgraded the stock to Outperform and raised its price target to $55.70 from $50.80, noting the shares had dropped roughly 70% since May.
AST SpaceMobile will hold its third-quarter business update call on Monday, November 9, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.
Sources
- SCHEDULE 13G — BlackRock, Inc. re: AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (ASTS) — SEC EDGAR
- SCHEDULE 13G Exhibit 99 — EXHIBIT 99: ITEM 7 — SEC EDGAR
- Can ASTS Turn Brazil's Spectrum Approval Into a Growth Opportunity? — Yahoo Finance
- AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (ASTS) Stock Price, News, Quote & History - Yahoo Finance — Yahoo Finance
- SpaceX’s 80,000 Cell Site Push A Win For ASTS, Ericsson, Nokia, NextNav, Among Others, Says Roth Capital — Yahoo Finance
- AST SpaceMobile secures Brazil spectrum, adds four mobile partners | Seeking Alpha — seekingalpha.com
- AST SpaceMobile to Host Third Quarter 2026 Business Update Call on November 9, 2026 — Yahoo Finance
