On Wednesday, Jeff Bezos announced that he has invested $28 billion of his personal funds into Blue Origin. In an unexpected response on X, Elon Musk remarked, “Bravo!” and expressed his happiness that Bezos is so invested in space exploration. The two have been rivals in the space industry for years.
Despite their lack of personal affinity, Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, openly commended Bezos for committing nearly $30 billion of his wealth to the spaceflight company. Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021 but continues as the e-commerce giant’s executive chairman, shared that Blue Origin has secured over $10 billion in its first external funding round.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bezos’s net worth was $285 billion at the close of trading on Wednesday. He told Fox News’ Brett Baier that the time had come to stop self-funding the company.
Moreover, Bezos hinted at Blue Origin’s future, stating he expects the company to go public “at some point,” but confirmed that an IPO is still several years away.
Musk Praises Bezos: “Bravo!”
Musk and Bezos have had a turbulent relationship, frequently clashing over launch sites, government contracts, patents, employees, and ideas. Musk has previously mockingly referred to Bezos’s company as “Sue Origin.” However, both the first and third richest individuals in the world have also praised each other publicly.
Musk has mentioned that he teases Bezos to inspire him to work harder at Blue Origin. Therefore, his commendation of Bezos for the substantial investment may serve as clear evidence of commitment.
