The Financial Times first reported Wednesday that Seattle-based Amazon is negotiating a purchase of Globalstar for up to $9 billion as it seeks to build a satellite business that will rival Starlink, a network of 10,000 satellites owned by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.
Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, who also has a space company, Blue Origin.
The development comes at a time of significant growth for Globalstar, which operates a network of satellites that power voice communications, data transmission and asset-tracking services for consumers, businesses and governments.
In 2022, Apple announced a partnership with Globalstar, whose satellites power the iPhone's Emergency SOS connectivity service. Apple has since invested more than $1.5 billion in the company. In 2023, former Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, a Silicon Valley luminary, was named Globalstar's CEO.
Over the past 12 months, Globalstar’s stock price has more than doubled. Following reports Wednesday of the potential sale to Amazon, its shares rose 12.3% in premarket trading.
Globalstar and Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.
Tulane University Economist Peter Ricchiuti said the deal has “long been rumored and makes sense.”
“Globalstar’s coverage covers the globe, except for maybe a few penguins,” Ricchiuti said. “That’s a valuable and enviable position to be in.”
From West Coast to the northshore
Globalstar has been headquartered in Covington since 2010, but it began in the early 1990s on the West Coast when semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm and defense contractor Loral partnered to create a satellite communications service.
The partners launched their first satellites in 1998, but high costs and slow adoption of satellite phone technology led to a bankruptcy a few later. In 2004, Denver-based private equity firm Thermo Capital Partners purchased Globalstar’s assets and, a few years later, moved its headquarters to Covington to take advantage of lower operating costs and Louisiana's digital interactive media incentives and tax credits.
The move was celebrated a major economic development win for the state.
Thermo's managing partner, Jay Monroe, is a Tulane graduate with a history of investing in and leading tech companies. He has served as Globalstar's chairman since 2004 and was CEO from 2005 until 2020.
For the next decade or so, Globalstar operated largely out of the spotlight, operating a network of low-orbit satellites that power connectivity for hikers, first responders, offshore energy workers and others without access to cell networks or standard phone service.
In 2022, Globalstar caught the attention of the larger tech, telecommunications and aerospace industries when it partnered with Apple.
The company's stock value has risen 265% since last March, when Jacobs joined House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and other politicians in Covington to celebrate the opening of a new satellite control center in Globalstar's 66,000-square-foot office building near Interstate 12 and N. Causeway Boulevard. At the time, the company said it has about 160 employees in Louisiana and 400 worldwide.
“Credit for all this goes to Jay Monroe,” Ricchiuti said. “He has believed in the company and its stock through some very dark times.”
Hurdles still to clear
According to industry experts, Amazon is pursuing Globalstar because it is trying to build a network of more than 3,000 satellites to rival Starlink, which has roughly three times that many in operation.
Amazon, so far, has launched more than 200 satellites as it builds the network is has dubbed "Leo." Globalstar has 180.
Ricchiuti said the deal still has to clear several hurdles before it is finalized. Globalstar's relationship with Apple, which owns 20% of the local company, could potentially complicate things.
While it’s too soon to say what the sale would mean for Globalstar’s local presence, it would spell the end of local ownership of yet another publicly traded company in a state that has lost a steady stream of them over the past 30 years.
“If completed, another public company would be gone,” Ricchiuti said. “It’s now down to just a handful.”
© 2026 The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
