Amazon Buys Globalstar for Eleven Point Six Billion Dollars to Challenge Starlink

Amazon Makes Its Biggest Satellite Play Yet

Amazon and Globalstar announced a definitive merger agreement on Tuesday that will see Amazon acquire the satellite communications company for approximately eleven point six billion dollars. Under the deal, Globalstar shareholders will receive either ninety dollars per share in cash or Amazon stock equivalents, with cash elections capped at forty percent of total shares.

What Amazon Gets

The acquisition brings Globalstar's existing satellite operations, infrastructure, and critically important mobile satellite service spectrum licences with global authorisations into the Amazon Leo fold. Globalstar's satellites will operate alongside Amazon's broadband constellation, which currently has roughly two hundred and forty satellites in orbit and is targeting a commercial launch around mid twenty twenty-six.

The Apple Factor

Perhaps the most consequential element of the deal is a new agreement between Amazon and Apple. Amazon Leo will power satellite services for supported iPhone and Apple Watch models, including Emergency SOS via satellite. Apple had previously invested one point five billion dollars for a twenty percent stake in Globalstar and controls eighty-five percent of the company's network capacity. The partnership ensures continuity for millions of users who rely on these safety features.

Taking On Starlink

The move positions Amazon as a direct challenger to SpaceX's Starlink, which operates roughly ten thousand satellites and serves more than ten million users worldwide. Beginning in twenty twenty-eight, Amazon plans to deploy a next-generation direct-to-device satellite system offering voice, data, and messaging services directly to mobile phones. The deal is expected to close in twenty twenty-seven, pending regulatory approvals, with fifty-eight percent of Globalstar stockholders already approving the transaction.