U.S. Approves Amazon-Globalstar Deal Valued at $11.57 Billion
Key Facts
Reuters reported on October 27 that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved Amazon Leo’s acquisition of Globalstar, valuing the deal at $11.57 billion. The approval marks progress in reviewing the transfer of the company’s licenses and authorizations to Amazon, but does not mean the merger is complete or ownership has transferred immediately. The commission’s review began with an application concerning satellite and earth-station licenses and communications authorizations. Completion of the deal remains tied to meeting other conditions, including regulatory approvals and specific milestones for replacing HIBLEO-4 satellites. The deal places Globalstar’s assets within Amazon’s efforts to expand its satellite network, in a market where satellite services are competing to provide direct-to-device connectivity.
In its June notice, the commission said Amazon and Globalstar had requested approval to transfer space-station and earth-station licenses, along with domestic and international communications authorizations and an experimental license. The notice said completion of the deal would give Amazon 100% control of Globalstar, its subsidiaries, and the licenses and authorizations they hold. The commission set July 6 as the deadline for petitions to deny, July 21 for objections, and July 31 for replies as part of the public comment cycle. Those dates marked procedural stages in the application review, not a date for completing the acquisition. The approval Reuters reported in October came after that cycle, while the deal itself remains subject to its closing conditions.
The remaining conditions include approvals from authorities responsible for merger control and foreign investment in some countries, as well as French bodies overseeing communications, frequencies and space. A filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said completion of the deal is conditional on obtaining the required approvals, as applicable, from those authorities. It also said authorizations for the C-3 system were still pending when the filing was prepared. These conditions show that U.S. approval of the license-transfer application is a separate step from the other permits needed to close the deal. The HIBLEO-4 satellite replacement milestones also remain among the conditions Globalstar said must be met before completion.
The merger agreement sets April 13, 2027, as the initial termination date if the deal has not closed, with the possibility of extending it to October 13, 2027, and then to April 13, 2028, under specific conditions. These contractual dates differ from Globalstar’s expectation that the deal will close during 2027, as they do not in themselves guarantee a closing that year. Progress toward closing depends on obtaining the required approvals and completing the specified satellite milestones. The extension clause gives the parties additional time under specific circumstances, but does not remove the regulatory or technical conditions. The Federal Communications Commission’s approval therefore marks a development in the deal process, not an announcement that it is complete.
When the deal was announced in April, Globalstar shares rose more than 9% in premarket trading, according to a republished Reuters report. The report did not give a comparable percentage move for Amazon shares that day in the available excerpt. In EL7 data, Amazon shares closed at $253.635 on October 27, compared with $249.09 on October 26. Globalstar shares closed at $82.88 on October 26, while the supplied data do not include its October 27 close. These prices reflect specific sessions and dates and do not provide a uniform measure of the market’s response to the commission’s approval.
The deal adds Globalstar satellites to Amazon’s existing network, which included more than 200 satellites, according to a Reuters report published in April. The report said Amazon was working to deploy about 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit by 2029, and that the deal would add Globalstar satellites to that network. These assets support Amazon’s effort to build a broader space infrastructure, while regulatory approval remains separate from satellite deployment or the start of services. The deal comes as satellite companies compete to expand their networks and connectivity capabilities. The next steps remain tied to outstanding approvals and the HIBLEO-4 satellite replacement milestones, as well as contractual deadlines that may extend, under the agreement’s terms, through 2028.