Earnings

Joby Plans Roughly $450 Million Cash Deal For Defense Firm Resonant Sciences

Executives said the purchase gives Joby's defense work its own unit, while an analyst pressed on the cash left afterward.

Matteo Parrino Jonathan Ponciano

Matteo Parrino, Jonathan Ponciano

— 2 min read
Share
Joby Plans Roughly $450 Million Cash Deal For Defense Firm Resonant Sciences

Joby Aviation, which is developing an all-electric air taxi, plans to buy defense company Resonant Sciences and make it a dedicated defense business, Founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt said on the company's third-quarter earnings call Wednesday. A Morgan Stanley analyst on the call figured the roughly $450 million cash price would pull Joby's cash to about $1.5 billion.

What Resonant brings

Bevirt said Resonant, based in Dayton, Ohio, had more than $100 million in trailing 12-month revenue as of July 2026, growing about 40% from a year earlier. He said it is profitable on an adjusted EBITDA basis and works in sensing, secure communications, electronic countermeasures and low-observability technology. Joby expects the deal to close before its next results call, subject to regulatory approvals, and Resonant founder and CEO Micah North would lead the unit.

Executive Chairman Paul Sciarra gave four reasons: a strong core business at what he called "substantial" EBITDA margins, a management home for defense projects including hybrid hydrogen and autonomy efforts, resilient-GPS technology, and Resonant's Dayton footprint. Joby plans a production site in Dayton.

Asked by a Cantor Fitzgerald analyst whether combined revenue would roughly double next year, Sciarra said he did not want to "get ahead of the math" and that guidance would be updated when the deal closes.

The cash question

Joby ended the quarter with about $2.2 billion in cash and short-term investments, including roughly $128 million of net proceeds from its at-the-market stock sales. Third-quarter cash use, excluding those proceeds, was about $195 million, against $202 million in the second quarter.

CFO Rodrigo Brumana said he would not put out a runway number, but laid out the pieces. The Resonant payment of about $450 million comes early next year. Toyota's second $250 million investment tranche is expected in the first half, subject to closing conditions, and Joby has $620 million of at-the-market capacity. That, he said, takes the company "well beyond" the initial launch of commercial operations under the eVTOL pilot program next year.

Brumana said details of 2027 spending will come on the February call.

Quarter and Air Force contract

Revenue was $55 million, mostly from Blade, the air charter service Joby owns, and up $16 million from the second quarter. Joby raised full-year revenue guidance to $135 million to $140 million from $115 million to $125 million. The company reported a net loss of $212 million, helped by a $53 million non-cash change in the fair value of warrants, earn-out shares and contingent consideration.

Joby also said Air Force autonomy contracts now total about $37 million, with the ceiling on its operational testing contract raised to $50 million from $5 million.

Joby's market value stood at $4.8 billion after the call, and the company says guidance will be updated once Resonant closes.

Sources

Read more