Amazon is one of the players in a bankruptcy bidder game where the assets of the OneWeb satellite company are at stake. according to Space Intel Report.
Space Intel Report's Peter B. de Selding quotes undisclosed industry representatives and says that other potential bidders are two Chinese organizations that appear to be acting on behalf of the Chinese government. the satellite operator based in Paris Eutelsat, which appears to be supported by the French government and several other Member States of the European Union; and Cerberus Capital Management, a New York-based private equity firm with interesting connections.
Space Intel Report also cited the officials as saying that SpaceX was among those who expressed interest, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk denied that it was. "Not SpaceX" Musk wrote in a tweet.
SpaceX has already launched 420 satellites for its Starlink broadband constellation and plans to launch limited commercial service later this year – a condition that makes Starlink the leader in satellite internet racing.
OneWeb has put 74 satellites into orbit to prepare to offer high-speed Internet services from above, from the Arctic to global distribution. The company filed for bankruptcy in March when a major donor, the Japanese SoftBank group, declined to provide additional funds amid the financial chaos caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The bankruptcy process includes a schedule for the auction of OneWeb's assets to compensate its creditors – led by the European Arianespace consortium, which has an unsecured claim of $ 238 million. Monday was the deadline for prospective buyers to submit non-binding offers that gave them the opportunity to view OneWeb's books.
Amazon is remarkable for having its own plans for a satellite broadband service. Amazon plans 3,236 near-Earth satellites for the Kuiper project, but has not yet received regulatory approvals and has not yet announced a satellite deployment or service schedule.
Amazon could potentially use OneWeb's existing frequency access for Project Kuiper purposes. It is also conceivable that Amazon is not interested in placing a binding bid, but only wants to get a better feeling for how the constellation competition is developing. We asked Amazon's PR team about de Selding's report and found that "we don't comment on speculation."
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European and Chinese bidders would have both a geopolitical and a commercial interest in building on the OneWeb constellation.
"If OneWeb can convince one or more governments to take the OneWeb opportunity or to leave Earth orbit to the Americans or the Chinese or French, the auction could be a lively affair," says de Selding.
Assuming de Selding's sources are correct, Cerberus Capital would be the joker in this constellation poker game: GeekWire reported last year that Cerberus acquired Stratolaunch, the Seattle-based aerospace company owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was founded. The new owners of Stratolaunch say they continue to develop hypersonic vehicles that could be used for national security purposes.
Co-founder and CEO of Cerberus is Steve Feinberg, a secret billionaire with connections to President Donald Trump. Cerberus focuses on invest in distressed companiesand the prospect of OneWeb's assets falling into Chinese hands could potentially serve as an additional incentive for Cerberus to bid.
It won't be long before all players have to put their cards on the table: De Selding reports that the final, binding bids (and bona fide deposits) are due on June 26th. The auction is scheduled for July 2nd at the New York offices of Milbank LLP, Legal advisor to OneWeb.
Update for 9:30 am PT May 7th: We updated this report with Elon Musk's rejection of the claim that SpaceX is interested in OneWeb's assets, and the fact that Amazon has refused to comment.
