Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Dips as Kuiper Satellite Launch Sparks ’Relocate or Resign’ Staff Ultimatum

Amazon's latest power move backfires—shares slip after Kuiper satellite launch announcement collides with employee relocation demands.

Tech giant plays hardball with staff as space ambitions clash with workforce realities.

When rockets meet resistance: Inside Amazon's high-stakes gamble on orbital dominance and human capital.

Wall Street shrugs—because when has throwing billions at satellites ever gone wrong? (Spoiler: Always.)

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The first major item to hit was that Amazon launched a second round of the Project Kuiper satellites into orbit, which will reinforce Amazon’s plans to offer up a satellite internet service on par with Starlink. The launch mission itself, meanwhile, had been rescheduled twice, after bad weather kept the launch grounded once and mechanical failure with a rocket booster did for the second.

Being as I am a Starlink user myself, I say, good luck with that, Amazon, because Starlink is pretty good stuff. Amazon will have a long way to go to catch up with Starlink, too, as Starlink currently has over 8,000 satellites in orbit and is putting out some impressive speeds. Currently, as of this latest launch, Amazon has 54 satellites in orbit, and is under a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deadline of July 2026 to have 1,618 satellites—half its total run—in orbit.

“Relocate or Resign”

That was when Amazon rolled out an ultimatum, calling on thousands of its employees to pull up stakes and move closer to Amazon’s “main hubs,” noted a report. The ultimatum gave employees 30 days to decide, and those choosing “resign” WOULD get a severance package of nothing at all.

The MOVE comes at an interesting time for Amazon, as it revealed that Amazon looks for it to lose employees organically anyway, with artificial intelligence (AI) taking over tasks. This has prompted growing concerns about outright layoffs as AI—which requires no pay, benefits, or even rest—takes over jobs from human beings. With Amazon planning to spend $105 billion in capital expenditure, and a lot of that going to AI development, it certainly suggests that Amazon wants to make things unpleasant enough to get employees to quit on their own.

Is Amazon a Good Long-Term Investment?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on AMZN stock based on 46 Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 13% rally in its share price over the past year, the average AMZN price target of $242.48 per share implies 15.64% upside potential.

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