Jeff Bezos and Amazon board sued over satellites competing with Elon Musk's Starlink

Bezos' Blue Origin, founded in 2000, will fly its first private space tourist flight in 2021. Photo: AFP

Amazon was accused of ignoring a «clear conflict of interest» in awarding hundreds of millions of dollars worth of missile contracts to a company owned by Jeff Bezos.

Amazon shareholder lawsuit accuses e-commerce giant's board in actions of «bad faith» after less than 40 minutes after the transfer of the contract to the Bezos rocket company Blue Origin discussion.

Amazon plans to launch an extensive network of more than 3,000 satellites that will provide Internet access around the world .

As part of the plan, the company is to contract rocket companies to launch its satellites into space.

Amazon has already paid about $1.7 billion to three companies, including $585 million to Bezos' Blue Origin. Other contracts are with France's Arianespace and United Launch Alliance.

The Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters pension fund filing the lawsuit said the rocket launch contract was «the second largest» in Amazon's history, following its takeover of Whole Foods in 13 .7 billion dollars.

The lawsuit alleges that the company's audit committee «inexplicably» did not consider entering into a contract with billionaire Elon Musk's rival SpaceX, despite the rival's track record in successful rocket launches.

SpaceX was not a member in a number of options presented to members of the board of directors, the lawsuit says. claims.

The lawsuit alleges that the board played little role in the negotiations. Instead, Bezos and his team are said to have negotiated with a company he also owned.

The company's audit committee «sealed» the deal in January 2022, while Bezos was still Amazon's CEO. claim is asserted. Two months later, the deal was approved by the board of directors.

All Amazon management, including Mr. Bezos, are defendants in the case.

The lawsuit adds that in addition to the potential conflict, it is interesting that not there was enough attention to Blue Origin's «lack of reliability». The company's heavy rocket remains «strongly rooted to the ground,» the statement said. Amazon has yet to launch any satellites.

Although the Bezos rocket company has launched half a dozen tourist flights to the edge of space, its current New Shepard rocket hasn't flown in over a year. The first launch of the larger New Glenn rocket is not scheduled until next year.

Amazon spokesman said: «The claims in this lawsuit are completely unfounded, and we hope to prove it in the lawsuit.» '.