Amazon.com, Inc. acquired Globalstar, Inc. on April 14, a deal that jolts the fight over satellite spectrum and puts SpaceX on the defensive after weeks of speculation that Elon Musk’s company was the likelier buyer. The move ties Amazon more tightly to its Project Kuiper ambitions and to a market now being measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Bank of America said the low-Earth orbit market could reach $200 billion and spans broadband, wireless and defense, a scale that helps explain why Globalstar drew so much attention. Globalstar owns L-band and MSS spectrum, assets that matter because they support satellite-to-phone connectivity and sit at the center of the orbital competition between Starlink, Kuiper and AST SpaceMobile, Inc.
The price action told part of the story before the deal was even confirmed. Globalstar shares jumped on reports that Amazon and SpaceX were deep in due diligence, after Elon Musk’s company had been widely seen as the frontrunner for weeks leading up to April 14.
That momentum was complicated by the way the bidding was handled. Satellite analyst Tim Farrar reported that Globalstar’s chairman shopped Amazon’s offer to SpaceX in an effort to spark a bidding war, while SpaceX never confirmed it was bidding for Globalstar. Its last-minute, incomplete FCC auction filing was widely read as a strategic placeholder during parallel negotiations.
The stakes reach beyond Amazon and SpaceX. Apple Inc. already relies on Globalstar for emergency SOS features, and the acquisition could affect that relationship if the new owner chooses to reshape how the spectrum is used. For now, Amazon has turned a quiet satellite asset into a more explicit part of the struggle to control the next phase of connected space services.
