Amazon and Jeff Bezos Sued Over Blue Origin Launch Contracts by Institutional Investor

Amazon received regulatory approval in July 2020 to launch and operate its constellation.

Amazon and its board, including founder Jeff Bezos, are being sued by institutional investor the Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund over Amazon's contracts awarded to Bezos' space company, Blue Origin. The suit accuses the board of devoting less than 40 minutes to approving the launch agreements for Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation and not considering Blue Origin rival SpaceX. Amazon received regulatory approval in July 2020 to launch and operate its constellation. The same year it filed for a regulatory license to deploy over 3,200 satellites into low Earth orbit at a cost of several billion dollars. The clock was ticking on negotiating launch contracts spread across multiple providers as regulators granted the company just nine years to launch the entire constellation.

 The lawsuit expressed confusion over why SpaceX had not been considered while other launch providers, such as Blue Origin, Arianespace, and United Launch Alliance, had. Almost 45% of the total contract value went to Blue Origin, and thus far, Amazon has spent around $1.7 billion on the launch contracts, of which $585 million went to Blue Origin. The lawsuit highlights the ongoing rivalry between Blue Origin and SpaceX and the personal antagonisms between Bezos and Musk. The legal filing was made with Delaware's Court of Chancery earlier this week and comes as Bezos prepares to step down as Amazon CEO, though he is expected to remain involved with the company and its space ventures.