Amazon announced Tuesday it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Globalstar for $11.57 billion, a move that hands the company one of the scarcest assets in satellite communications.
The move adds direct-to-device capability to its growing Amazon Leo network, and makes Amazon the new backbone behind the Emergency SOS feature on every iPhone 14 and later.
Globalstar shares jumped more than 9% in premarket trading. The stock had already nearly doubled in value last year and had risen approximately 12% since January before deal discussions became public.
The Financial Times first reported the talks on April 1, sending shares up over 20% that day alone.
The deal is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and Globalstar meeting specific satellite deployment milestones.
Why Is Amazon Buying Globalstar?
Globalstar is a Covington, Louisiana-based satellite company that most people have never heard of but have almost certainly used.
If you own an iPhone 14 or later and have ever seen the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature, you have Globalstar’s network to thank.
The company pioneered non-geostationary orbit satellite technology and currently operates approximately 24 satellites in low-Earth orbit, along with 24 ground station gateways spread across the planet and spectrum licenses covering more than 120 countries.
That spectrum is the real prize. Globalstar holds licenses for L-band, S-band, Band 53/n53, and C-band spectrum, a globally harmonized portfolio that no other satellite company replicates.
Spectrum is not like satellites. Satellites can be designed, built, and launched on an accelerating industrial timeline. Globally licensed spectrum takes years or decades to acquire through regulatory processes in dozens of jurisdictions simultaneously.
You cannot simply buy your way into it with a large enough capital budget. Amazon is paying $11.57 billion primarily because the spectrum Globalstar holds cannot be recreated.
The SEC filing from Amazon explains the strategic logic directly. Combining Globalstar’s spectrum and established mobile satellite services capabilities with Amazon Leo’s scale and reach “will enable higher-capacity, more spectrum-efficient direct-to-device services than legacy direct-to-cell systems.”
Direct-to-device is the piece that makes this personally relevant to anyone who owns a smartphone. It means satellite connectivity that goes straight to your phone, no special hardware, no satellite phone, no separate device.
The technology is already in your pocket every time you carry an iPhone.
Amazon is acquiring the infrastructure, expertise, and spectrum that makes it work, and combining it with a constellation that will eventually scale to 3,200 satellites.
What Is Amazon’s Ultimate Goal With Globalstar?
Amazon launched what was then called Project Kuiper in 2019, rebranded it as Amazon Leo in late 2025, and has been racing to build a low-Earth orbit satellite internet network capable of challenging Starlink.
As of late 2025, Amazon had approximately 212 production satellites in orbit.
The company has a regulatory requirement to have roughly 1,600 satellites, half its planned first-generation constellation, in orbit by July 2026. That deadline is approximately three months away.
The gap between 212 satellites and 1,600 in three months is not comfortable. Amazon is deploying at pace, but the Globalstar acquisition brings something launches cannot. An operational network, ground infrastructure, and a spectrum portfolio that is immediately available rather than years away.
Globalstar’s existing 24 satellites are not the point. The ground stations, the operational expertise, the licensed spectrum in 120+ countries, and the direct-to-device capability represent years of regulatory and infrastructure work that Amazon would otherwise have had to build from scratch or fight for in spectrum auctions globally.
Amazon plans to have satellite internet services rolling out to consumers later this year and a full constellation of 3,200 satellites in orbit by 2029.
The Starlink Gap And Why It Matters
Elon Musk’s Starlink is the dominant player in satellite internet by a substantial margin.
It operates more than 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves over nine million users globally, a customer base that spans individual consumers in remote areas, enterprise clients, governments, and US national security agencies through its Starshield variant.
Starlink generates an estimated 50 to 80 percent of SpaceX’s total revenue.
Amazon Leo’s 200+ satellites versus Starlink’s 10,000+ is the gap the company is trying to close.
The Globalstar acquisition does not immediately change the satellite count, it adds two dozen operational satellites to Amazon’s network. What it changes is the capability set and the infrastructure foundation.
Globalstar provides Amazon with L-band and S-band spectrum diversity that Starlink does not have, direct-to-device technology that Starlink is still developing through its own separate partnerships, and operational infrastructure that serves enterprise and government customers today rather than in three years.
There is also an irony embedded in this deal worth noting. Globalstar had a launch services agreement with SpaceX, using Falcon 9 rockets to deploy its replacement satellites.
Amazon is now acquiring a company that has been using its primary competitor’s rockets to build infrastructure that will compete with that same competitor’s internet service.
SpaceX will presumably continue launching Globalstar’s replacement satellites as contractually obligated while those satellites become part of Amazon’s effort to take Starlink customers.
What Is The Apple Connection To Globalstar?
When the Financial Times first reported acquisition talks in early April, the immediate question was Apple.
Apple had invested approximately $1.5 billion in Globalstar in late 2024, acquiring a roughly 20% stake in the company.
More critically, Apple had reserved 85% of Globalstar’s network capacity for its Emergency SOS via Satellite service, the feature built into every iPhone 14 and later and Apple Watch Ultra 3 that allows users to contact emergency services when there is no cellular signal.
Apple’s stake and its capacity reservation made Globalstar’s acquisition structurally complicated.
Amazon was effectively trying to buy a company where a competing tech giant owned a fifth of the equity and had contractual rights to the overwhelming majority of the network’s capacity.
Separate negotiations between Amazon and Apple were required alongside the primary acquisition talks.
Those negotiations are now resolved. As part of the deal announcement, Amazon and Apple simultaneously announced a separate agreement.
Amazon Leo will continue to power satellite services for supported iPhone and Apple Watch models, including Emergency SOS via satellite, text messaging to emergency services, messaging friends and family, and roadside assistance requests.
Amazon will support iPhones and Apple Watches using both Globalstar’s existing constellation and the planned upcoming satellites being manufactured by MDA Space.
The companies will also collaborate on future satellite services using Amazon Leo’s expanded network.
If you have an iPhone 14 or later, the infrastructure behind the feature that could save your life if you break a leg hiking in a dead zone is changing hands.
It is moving from Globalstar to Amazon. The feature itself will keep working.
The Deal Terms
Under the merger agreement, Globalstar shareholders elect to receive for each share either $90 in cash or 0.3210 shares of Amazon common stock, with the stock consideration capped at $90 per share.
Cash elections are limited, if more than 40% of total shares elect cash, the excess converts to stock on a pro rata basis. The deal is structured as a tax-free reorganization for US federal income tax purposes.
The total consideration is subject to a downward adjustment of up to $110 million if Globalstar does not hit certain milestones related to its HIBLEO-4 replacement satellite program, the next-generation constellation under development with MDA Space that will expand Globalstar’s network to 54 satellites including backups.
In other words, Amazon has tied part of the purchase price to Globalstar delivering on its satellite build-out commitments.
Globalstar shareholders holding approximately 58% of combined voting power have already approved the transaction by written consent.
Amazon had $86.81 billion in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet as of Q4 2025. The $11.57 billion price represents a significant but entirely manageable outlay for a company generating that level of liquidity.
Globalstar posted record full-year 2025 revenue of $272.99 million and is guiding for $280 to $305 million in 2026.
Its Wholesale Capacity Services segment, the largest revenue driver, grew 28% year over year in Q1 2026.
These are not headline numbers for a company of Amazon’s scale, but the acquisition was never about Globalstar’s revenue.
It was always about the spectrum, the infrastructure, and the capability to extend cellular connectivity to every device on earth regardless of where that device happens to be.
The deal is now signed. The satellite internet race just changed significantly.
