Bezos-Musk Space Rivalry Dispute Goes to Delaware Supreme Court

A lawsuit blaming the feud between the world’s two richest men for costly delays plaguing Amazon.com Inc.'s space satellite project is headed to Delaware’s top court.

The pension fund leading the shareholder case launched its appeal Wednesday, asking the state supreme court to revive claims that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos hamstrung its Project Kuiper by relying on his own rocket startup, Blue Origin LLC, rather than Elon Musk’s more established SpaceX. A judge tossed the suit from Delaware’s Chancery Court last month, saying Amazon’s board was free from conflicts of interest when it made that choice.

“Directors can always do more,” Vice Chancellor Nathan A. Cook wrote Feb. 24, quoting a previous court filing by Bezos and the board. “A bad-faith claim is reserved for disciplining directors who deliberately do essentially nothing.”

Musk has a net worth of $337 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, while Bezos is worth $222 billion. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is third on the list with $213 billion.

Project Kuiper—among the costliest ventures in the tech giant’s three-decade history—is a planned competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink network, a multibillion-dollar enterprise involving a mega-constellation of satellites facilitating global internet access. Under its Federal Communications Commission license, Amazon has until 2026 to send up the first of roughly 1,600 satellites and three more years to launch the next batch, according to the 2023 court complaint.

The lawsuit focuses on animosity between Musk and Bezos, who arguably won a separate “billionaire space race” when he left the Earth’s atmosphere aboard a Blue Origin vessel in July 2021, days after Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. founder Richard Branson entered sub-orbit. But policy changes favored by the Trump administration—in which Musk wields enormous influence—could raise the rivalry’s stakes.

Recent moves by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and senior congressional Republicans could put more than $40 billion in federal funds up for grabs by revamping a broadband subsidy program to embrace satellite-based technologies like Starlink and Project Kuiper. The program previously focused on fiber-optic cables that are expensive to install but durable over time.

Read More: Bezos, Amazon Defend Space Project Contracts With Blue Origin

Cook’s brief ruling last month rejected the idea that Bezos’ status as a “superstar CEO” with outsized influence at Amazon should make it easier prove other corporate directors were beholden to him, a theory borrowed from a landmark 2024 decision voiding Musk’s $56 billion Tesla Inc. pay package.

The Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund acknowledged it belatedly raised that argument “after limited recent case law suggested it might have some ‘traction,’” according to the decision throwing out the case. “I question the premise,” Cook said. “This case ultimately concerns an independent board’s exercise of its business judgment.”

The fund’s opening appellate brief is due May 13.

It’s represented by Grant & Eisenhofer PA. Amazon, Bezos, and the board are represented by Ross Aronstam & Moritz LLP and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

The case is Cleveland Bakers & Teamsters Pension Fund v. Bezos, Del., No. 127, 2025, notice of appeal filed 3/26/25.