Jeff Bezos has put $28 billion of his own money into Blue Origin, and Elon Musk has noticed. Fox News reports that Bezos shared the figure in an interview with anchor Bret Baier that aired on Wednesday, October 7. Musk replied: “Bravo! I’m glad @JeffBezos cares so much about space,” TipRanks reported. The two have competed for years for launch contracts and satellite internet customers, so a friendly reply from Musk gets attention.
What Bezos said
The interview was filmed on Blue Origin’s factory floor in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Blue Origin recently raised $10 billion from outside investors for the first time, Fox reports, and Bezos explained the wait: “I didn’t really want to take outside investors until I was sure that it would be a good investment for them.” He said a public offering could come several years from now.
On the moon, Bezos said, “We have to beat China to the moon,” and called a U.S. landing in 2028 possible. Fox also reports that New Glenn is due to return to flight in December after an engine-test explosion in May, and that Blue Origin plans to raise launches from one pad from 12 to 50 a year and is building three more pads. Bezos said the goal is to fly “every day,” then “every hour.”
Our take: $28 billion is a huge sum for one company, and $10 billion of outside money suggests others now think it can pay off. But the targets are still ahead of the record. New Glenn has to return to flight, and “every hour” is also Musk’s stated goal for Starship, which he says is two to three years away, as we covered in Musk Says Starship Is 2 to 3 Years From Hourly Launches. The reply is friendly. The race will be settled by launches, not posts.
