Article about the SpaceX monopoly question
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4653/1
> SpaceX launches a debate on monopolies
> “Having such a dominant launch service provider is probably not healthy in general for the commercial prospects of the industry,” said Vikram Nidamaluri, managing director of the telecom, media, and entertainment group at investment banking firm Lazard, during one of the first panels at the conference last Monday. “No one wants a monopoly choking off one point of the value chain.”
> One major constellation company that has—so far—avoided working with SpaceX is Amazon, which is developing the 3,236-satellite Project Kuiper system. Nearly a year and a half ago, it announced contracts for up to 83 launches with Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance (see “A megaconstellation megadeal”, The Space Review, April 11, 2022).
> The problem for Amazon is that none of the vehicles it signed contracts for, the Ariane 6, New Glenn, and Vulcan Centaur, have yet to fly. All three were once slated to begin launches in 2020, but have suffered years of development delays.
> Amazon may be satisfied with those answers—a Kuiper official speaking at the conference later in the week expressed no reservations about meeting the FCC deadlines—but others are not. Last month, an Amazon shareholder, the Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund, filed suit against Amazon’s board of directors, alleging they failed to do proper due diligence when approving those multibillion-dollar launch contracts.
> The suit illustrated that with tweets from Musk over the years taunting Bezos. After all, one can be both a genius and a jerk.