Amazon signs $11.57bn Globalstar deal to challenge Musk’s Starlink dominance

Amazon  – (Web Desk) – Amazon is set to buy satellite company Globalstar in a massive $11.57 billion deal, stepping up its game in the growing space internet race against Elon Musk’s Starlink.

Investors welcomed the news warmly — Globalstar’s shares jumped more than 9% before markets even opened, building on a 6% gain over the past two weeks as rumours of the talks had already been circulating. The company had already been on a strong run, nearly doubling in value last year and climbing around 12% this year alone. Amazon’s own stock also nudged up about 1% on the news.

So what does Amazon actually get from this deal? Access to Globalstar’s fleet of 24 satellites, giving its space ambitions a meaningful boost as it looks to go head-to-head with Starlink, which already has an impressive 10,000 satellites circling the planet.

As for Globalstar’s shareholders, they’ll have a choice — take $90 in cash or swap each share for 0.3210 Amazon shares. Not a bad deal either way.

Amazon is already racing to build its own satellite network, aiming to place around 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit by 2029. The clock is ticking though — roughly half of those need to be up by a regulatory deadline in July 2026.

With this deal, Amazon is making it very clear: the battle for space-based internet is well and truly on.

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 nine million users globally.

Covington, 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.

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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 some $1.5 billion 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.