Amazon said on Tuesday it would acquire a satellite company in an $11.57bn deal, bolstering its own fledgling space business as it looks to take on Elon Musk-led bigger rival Starlink.
The deal gives Amazon access to Globalstar’s network of two dozen satellites, boosting the tech giant’s ambitions to challenge SpaceX unit Starlink, which currently has about 10,000 units in orbit.
Under the deal, the satellite firm’s shareholders can elect to receive either $90 in cash or 0.3210 shares of Amazon common stock for each share of Globalstar they own, the companies said.
Amazon has been working to ramp up its network by deploying about 3,200 satellites in Earth’s low orbit by 2029, with roughly half required to be in place by a July 2026 regulatory deadline. The company currently operates a network of more than 200 satellites and is preparing to roll out its satellite internet services later this year. In contrast, Elon Musk’s Starlink – the dominant satellite-based internet service provider – already serves more than 9 million users globally.
Louisiana-based Globalstar, popular as the service that powers Apple’s “emergency SOS” feature, operates about two dozen satellites in low-Earth orbit. Late last year, it said a new, Apple-backed network under development would expand that to 54 satellites, including a small number of backups.
Globalstar offers voice, data, and asset-tracking services to customers across the enterprise, government and consumer markets. In a parallel move, Amazon and Apple – which has invested about $1.5bn in Globalstar – have signed an agreement to continue powering the satellite-based safety features, such as Emergency SOS and Find My, for iPhone and Apple Watch users.
The acquisition is expected to close next year, subject to regulatory approvals and achievement of specific satellite deployment milestones by Globalstar.
