Bloomberg’s Ed Ludlow reported live from Kennedy Space Center that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) is in talks to acquire Globalstar (NASDAQ:GSAT).
What Globalstar has is very valuable licensed spectrum. Having a constellation in orbit is not about the hardware up there but about the spectrum that it occupies.
— Ed Ludlow, Bloomberg, reporting from Kennedy Space Center
He’s 100% right.
The Spectrum Angle
Orbital spectrum is a regulated, scarce asset. You cannot simply build more of it. Globalstar holds globally harmonized licensed spectrum bands that are already cleared for use across dozens of regulated markets worldwide. That regulatory groundwork alone would take years and billions to replicate from scratch.
As Globalstar CEO Paul Jacobs said: “Our globally harmonized spectrum offers enormous potential. Recent sales of assets with less global coverage indicated values that reflect very well on Globalstar’s assets.”
Ludlow’s second point is the go-to-market layer. Globalstar already has ground infrastructure corresponding to its constellation and is already operating in markets where terrestrial signal doesn’t reach. That includes enabling emergency messages on iPhones, the satellite SOS feature you may already use without thinking about it.
Amazon’s Competitive Pressure
Amazon has committed to spending roughly $200 billion in capital expenditures across Amazon in 2026, with CEO Andy Jassy explicitly naming low earth orbit satellites as one of the “seminal opportunities.” The company is already absorbing approximately $1 billion of higher year-over-year Amazon Leo costs as that satellite program scales. Acquiring Globalstar’s spectrum and ground infrastructure could accelerate that buildout significantly against SpaceX’s Starlink.
GSAT shares rose 13% on April 2 on the news, and are up 274% over the past year. No financial terms have been disclosed.
The Apple Wrinkle
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) owns approximately 20% of Globalstar, with 85% of Globalstar’s network capacity allocated to Apple. Any Amazon acquisition navigates that relationship carefully — Apple’s installed base of 2.5 billion active devices runs on Globalstar’s infrastructure for satellite SOS today.
If you believe Amazon is serious about competing with SpaceX in space-based connectivity, and that licensed spectrum is genuinely the scarce asset Ludlow describes, then this deal’s logic holds regardless of the hardware sitting in orbit. The satellites are the vehicle. The spectrum is the road.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks