Peter Beck on shotguns, Starlink, and the state of NZ’s entrepreneurs

“I’ve learned the lesson to never rule out anything, so we decided that from day one we would design this vehicle so it could be certifiable."

Henry Burrell

Wed, 03 Mar 2021

Peter Beck this week led Rocket Lab, the company he founded in New Zealand in 2006, to a US$4.1 billion market valuation.His analogy for how he got to this point sounds like something from a first-person shooter video game. “I liken running a rocket company to running through the maze at night, and at every dead end there’s a guy with a shotgun,” the chief executive told BusinessDesk on the phone from Rocket Lab’s Auckland headquarters. “If you run down a dead end, you’re going to die, because you c...

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Markets

Spark valuation plummets $1 billion as profit crashes

Spark has reported a 78% fall in net profit to $35 million in the first half of its 2025 financial year and reduced its full-year operating earnings guidance. However, it has maintained its revised full-year dividend guidance.Shares – already down 42% over the past year after two...

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