Despite Starlink being a direct competitor, Amazon shareholder Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund (CB&T) has filed a complaint against Bezos and the board of the online giant—for not appropriately vetting SpaceX as a viable option for Project Kuiper.
The filing emphasizes the rivalry between Bezos and Musk, even featuring screenshots of posts on X—formerly Twitter—where the pair have taunted each other over various space expeditions, CNBC reports.
The filing reportedly adds Amazon executives—including current CEO Andy Jassy—“consciously and intentionally breached their most basic fiduciary responsibilities” by awarding the work to the trio and disregarding SpaceX in the proceedings.
The filing adds Amazon’s leadership “excluded the most obvious and affordable launch provider, SpaceX, from its procurement process because of Bezos’ personal rivalry with Musk,” per CNBC.
“Bezos, it must be assumed, could not swallow his pride to seek his bitter rival’s help to launch Amazon’s satellites,” the suit reportedly adds.
Amazon has dismissed the lawsuit. A spokesperson for the company told Fortune: “The claims in this lawsuit are completely without merit, and we look forward to showing that through the legal process.”
It is unclear whether SpaceX even submitted a bid for the work, or expressed any interest in helping a rival service launch their own satellites.
The company did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
