Amazon shareholders are suing the e-commerce giant for allegedly refusing to think about Elon Musk’s SpaceX for a profitable satellite contract due to his ongoing feud with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund (CB&T) filed a lawsuit on Monday within the Delaware Court of Chancery on behalf of Amazon against Bezos, current CEO Andy Jassy, and other top executives at the corporate.
The shareholders accused Amazon’s founder and executives of “consciously and intentionally breached their most elementary fiduciary responsibilities” in its decision to buy rocket launchers for its Project Kuiper satellite web system.
The lawsuit alleges that Amazon’s board awarded contracts value $2.7 billion to Blue Origin, Bezos’ space company, and didn’t consider rival SpaceX, which is owned by Musk, in its place launch provider despite its track record.
Two other firms — United Launch Alliance and Arianespace — were also awarded contracts for the Project Kuiper deal.
![Amazon shareholders are suing the e-commerce giant for allegedly refusing to consider Elon Musk's SpaceX for a valuable satellite contract due to his ongoing feud with company founder Jeff Bezos (pictured).](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000017666601.jpg?w=1024)
In total, Amazon said it expects to pay the three firms around $7.4 billion for launch services through 2028.
CB&T, which is in search of unspecified damages and legal fees, alleges that SpaceX has one of the best track record of any of the businesses that were awarded contracts and that a deal with Musk’s firm would have cost Amazon less.
Amazon’s board “excluded probably the most obvious and reasonably priced launch provider, SpaceX, from its procurement process due to Bezos’ personal rivalry with Musk,” in keeping with the lawsuit.
![The shareholders accused Amazon's board of](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000007251786.jpg)
Amazon’s Project Kuiper is a planned network of over 3,000 satellites designed to beam broadband web to distant regions.
That makes it a competitor to Musk’s Starlink, which has to date launched greater than 4,500 satellites into space.
“The claims on this lawsuit are completely without merit, and we look ahead to showing that through the legal process,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Post.
![The shareholders allege that Amazon awarded a contract to Bezos-owned Blue Origin and shunned Elon Musk's SpaceX.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000027437096.jpg?w=1024)
Musk, the wealthiest person on this planet with a net value of $235 billion, and Bezos, who’s the third wealthiest with a fortune estimated by Bloomberg Billionaires Index at $162 billion, have sparred with each other through social media lately.
The CB&T lawsuit even features a screenshot of a post that Musk wrote on X — the platform formerly often known as Twitter — during which he taunts Bezos after SpaceX beat out Blue Origin and won a large $2.9 billion contract from NASA to construct a “human landing system” for a manned mission to the moon.
“Can’t get it up (to orbit) lol,” Musk wrote within the post dated April 26, 2021.
Bezos protested NASA’s decision to go with SpaceX.
![Bezos (seen right with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez) is the owner of Blue Origin, a competitor with SpaceX.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/09/NYPICHPDPICT000011568300.jpg?w=1024)
He sued the federal government, alleging that it showed favoritism to Musk’s company.
A judge rejected Bezos’ claims, but NASA said that it could solicit bids from two corporations for its other lunar lander contracts.
“If lobbying & lawyers could get u to orbit, Bezos could be on Pluto rn,” Musk wrote in one other social media post dated Aug. 11, 2021.
Musk hit back at Bezos after Blue Origin claimed that SpaceX’s Starship was “what immense complexity & heightened risk looks like for going back to the moon.”
![The shareholders allege that Amazon would have saved money if it considered SpaceX in its contract bid.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/NYPICHPDPICT000017271336-1.jpg?w=1024)
“The sad thing is that even when Santa Claus suddenly made their hardware real at no cost, the very first thing you’d need to do is cancel it,” Musk wrote on X.
Last 12 months, Musk took a swipe at Bezos over Amazon’s release of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” declaring that writer J.R.R. Tolkien was “turning in his grave.”
The Post has sought comment from SpaceX and Blue Origin.
With Post Wires