Tag: Jeff Bezos

Elon Musk’s SPACE X and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Battles for Supremacy

Is it a coincidence that the two wealthiest individuals on the planet are both nursing space transport dreams? Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are both front runners in the two foremost and advanced space programs on the planet at the moment.

 

 

 

Although their motive, which is to kickstart some sort of backup civilization for human beings, align, both billionaires disagree on how to go about it. Before we dive into the disparity in Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’ space visions, let us quickly examine their space programs.

 

Space Exploration Technology Corps (SPACE X) 

Space X was founded by Elon Musk in 2002 and is headquartered at Hawthorn California. The goal of the company is to make Space travel affordable to ordinary people. It hopes to kickstart human colonization and inhabitation of planet Mars.

Space X manufactures two of its foremost space vessels the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. It also manufactures other components that make space travel easy and affordable.

Space X is by far the more advanced of the two space programs. It has already put 700 Starlink satellites in space with over 120 being manufactured every month.

According to Business Insider, Space X is worth $33bn dollars

Blue Origin 

Blue origin was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos and is headquartered in Kent, Washington DC. Blue Origin aims to make access to space cheaper and more reliable through reusable launch vehicles. It believes it can put 1 trillion people in space making use of hanging colonies on space. Blue Origin is the less successful of the two programs having failed to launch a single satellite into space.

Elon Musk’s Vision 

Elon Musk envisions a life outside the planet Earth. He strongly believes human beings can inhabit Mars in Mega Cities and it can serve as a backup to earth should World War 3 or any major global disaster occur.

According to Business Insider, Elon Musk hopes to create the first sustainable city in Mars by 2050. The Company hopes to commence launching cargoes with building equipment in 2024 and hopefully, a permanent city would begin to take shape by the 2030s.

Elon Musk’s space company is valued at $33bn with its initial funding coming from his big payout from selling PayPal. He funds his SpaceX by getting contracts and investors for it.

Jeff Bezos’ Vision 

Jeff Bezos’ vision for his space program is slightly different from that of Elon Musk. Jeff Bezos does not agree with the Mass Inhabitation of Mars by Elon Musk. He rather believes his Blue Origin company can come up with “floating cities” on space that can house 1 trillion people. Jeff Bezos funds his Blue Origin project by allocating a certain percentage of his Amazon shares for it. Last year he allocated a whopping $3.1bn to his Blue Origin project.

 

Billionaires at play 

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are the two richest individuals on the planet. Little wonder they can afford to pursue these ambitions. Elon Musk is clearly leading the space race with a more Robust SpaceX and cutting-edge drive, while Jeff Bezos, the older and richer of the duo seems to be taking his time. Jeff Bezos puts in more funds into his blue Origin Project while Elon Musk struggles a bit with funding Space X, relying on contracts and investors to get by.

 

Elon Musk is the younger of the two billionaires and exudes a youthful aura which sort of gives him an edge over Jeff Bezos. He is seen as the exciting youthful tech billionaire who was once smoking pot on live TV.

Both Space X and Blue Origin enjoy subtle help from NASA, America’s authoritative Space Body.

 

Culled Nairametric

Jeff Bezos’ Ex-Wife MacKenzie Scott Remarries Teacher

MacKenzie Scott, one of the richest women in the world, is off the market. The very private billionaire, who divorced Amazon founder Jeff Bezos after 25 years of marriage, has quietly wed Seattle teacher Dan Jewett, according to a blog post from the groom.

It’s unclear when the newlyweds tied the knot; Scott could not be reached for comment. The news trickled out Saturday after Jewett posted on Scott’s Giving Pledge page, and was first reported in the Wall Street Journal.

“I have been a teacher for the majority of my life, as well as a grateful student of the generosity of those around me,” he wrote. “This has meant doing my best to follow their example by passing on resources of all kinds — from time, to energy, to material possessions — when I have had them to give. And now, in a stroke of happy coincidence, I am married to one of the most generous and kind people I know — and joining her in a commitment to pass on an enormous financial wealth to serve others.”

Scott, 50, received $36 billion when her divorce was finalized two years ago. The fortune has grown to an estimated $53 billion, most of which the novelist and philanthropist has pledged to give away. Scott’s personal wealth has grown significantly during the pandemic, along with Amazon’s share price. “This pandemic has been a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling,” she wrote in a Medium post in December. “Meanwhile, it has substantially increased the wealth of billionaires.”

She apparently met Jewett through Seattle’s Lakeside School, where her children attend classes and Jewett taught high school science. The elite private school for grades 5-12 boasts Bill Gates as an alumni.

Scott shared the happy news on her author bio on Amazon’s website: “She lives in Seattle with her four children and her husband, Dan.”

In a gracious note, Bezos (who also owns The Washington Post) seems genuinely thrilled for his ex-wife: “Dan is such a great guy, and I’m happy and excited for the both of them,” he said in a statement.

It also appears that Jewett’s days in the classroom are over. In his posting, Jewett said he and Scott “are united in that understanding and in our excitement for all we have to learn from so many people working in service of others. With that as a foundation, I join with the kindest and most thoughtful person I know in making this pledge, grateful for the exceptional privilege it will be to partner in giving away assets with the potential to do so much good when shared.”

Elon Musk Tops Jeff Bezos as World’s Richest Person

Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion.

Thursday’s increase in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion. Musk’s wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to the top of the rich list in history — and is a dramatic financial turnaround for the famed entrepreneur who just 18 months ago was in the headlines for Tesla’s rapid cash burn and his personal leverage against the company’s stock.

Musk started 2020 worth about $27 billion, and was barely in the top 50 richest people.

Tesla’s rocketing share price — which has increased more than ninefold over the past year — along with his generous pay package have added more than $150 billion to his net worth.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s share price has remained more subdued due to the potential for increased regulation from Washington.

Elon Musk passed Warren Buffett in July to become the seventh-richest person. In November, Musk raced past Bill Gates to become the second-richest person. Musk has gained more wealth over the past 12 months than Bill Gates’ entire net worth of $132 billion.

Tesla’s shares closed Thursday at $816.04, up nearly 8%. The company’s market value has grown to more than $760 billion.

While the Bloomberg Billionaires Index had Musk within $3 billion of Bezos’ net worth on Wednesday, before Thursday’s trading, the Forbes Real Time Billionaires List had Musk about $7 billion behind Bezos after the market close Thursday. Forbes pegged Bezos’ net worth at $184.6 billion and Musk at $177.2 billion. Forbes, however, may not be including the value of Musk’s options, which he received as part of his pay package, to buy more than 33 million shares of Tesla.

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