Amazon.com said on Tuesday it would acquire Globalstar in an $11.57 billion deal, bolstering its fledgling satellite business as it looks to take on bigger rival SpaceX’s Starlink.
Shares of satellite company Globalstar were up more than 9% in premarket trading, after gaining over 6% in the past two weeks following media reports of the companies’ discussions.
The stock had nearly doubled in value last year and has risen about 12% so far this year, before news of an acquisition emerged.
Under the deal, Globalstar shareholders can elect to receive either $90 in cash or 0.3210 shares of Amazon common stock for each share of the satellite company they own, the companies said.
Amazon’s satellite expansion plans
Amazon plans 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.
It currently operates a network of more than 200 satellites and is preparing to roll out its satellite internet services later this year.
Founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos launched Amazon’s satellite effort in 2019 as Project Kuiper, now known as Amazon Leo.
Competition with Starlink
In contrast, Elon Musk’s Starlink, the dominant satellite-based internet service provider, operates a network of more than 10,000 satellites that serve more than nine million users globally.
Globalstar’s role and capabilities
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.
Globalstar offers voice, data, and asset-tracking services to customers across the enterprise, government and consumer markets.
Published on April 14, 2026