Amazon paid approximately $1.8 billion to Blue Origin, the space company owned by its founder and board chair Jeff Bezos, in the last fiscal year, nearly triple what it paid the year before, as the Seattle-based tech giant accelerates deployment of its low-Earth orbit satellite constellation and shareholders prepare to vote on a proposal that would force the company to appoint an independent board chair.
According to Amazon’s proxy filing, the company paid approximately $2.2 billion total under satellite launch agreements last year, with Blue Origin receiving the bulk of that sum. The prior year’s filing showed Blue Origin receiving about $578 million out of a total of $1.7 billion in launch contracts. The dramatic increase reflects Amazon’s push to build out its Amazon Leo program, formerly known as Project Kuiper, a planned constellation of 3,236 low-Earth orbit satellites designed to beam broadband internet to consumers and businesses worldwide. The company has deployed 243 satellites so far and has asked the Federal Communications Commission for a two-year extension on a July deadline to launch roughly half of the fleet.
