Following on from last month announcement The company that announced Amazon’s acquisition of Globalstar has now told the FCC that it will also buy Apple’s 20% stake in the satellite communications company. Here are the details.
Amazon promises to keep Globalstar satellite service up and running for iPhone users
As seen PCMagAmazon has filed a “Consent Application for Assignment and Transfer of Control of Licenses and Authorizations” with the FCC, which states that as a result of its acquisition of Globalstar, the company will also assume Apple’s stake in the company.
In late 2024, an FTC filing showed that Apple would Expands investment in Globalstar from $300 million to $1.1 billion originally tied to the satellite link partnership Emergency SOS via satellite feature.
Under the terms of the expanded deal, Globalstar assigned 85% of its satellite capacity to Apple, which in turn agreed to take a 20% stake in the company in the form of 400,000 Class B shares.
Now Amazon has notified the FCC that it plans to take over Apple’s stake as part of its $11.6 billion acquisition of Globalstar. This is the second step in the merger process after Amazon first merged with Globalstar through a newly created subsidiary called Grapefruit Acquisition Sub II, LLC.
From the document:
Grapefruit Acquisition Sub II, LLC will acquire Apple Inc.’s 20% equity interest and voting rights in Globalstar Licensee LLC immediately following the second step of the proposed Transaction.
In the filing, Amazon reaffirms that the deal will not disrupt Globalstar’s existing business with Apple, but that the acquisition will allow for a broader expansion of its satellite services outside of Apple’s ecosystem:
In addition, the proposed merger will allow Amazon to build a next-generation, global D2D network purpose-built to serve smartphones and other mobile devices across multiple carriers and vendors.
To read PCMag‘s full report, which links to the original FCC filings, follow this link.
It’s worth checking out on Amazon
FTC: We use automatic affiliate links that generate income. More.
