Limp’s email provided no details about the new plan, except to say, “As Blue achieves its goals and grows in value, your equity will grow along with it.”
To compete with SpaceX, Blue will need to continue to grow. The exact target SpaceX will set with its IPO has not been determined, but the company could seek a valuation around $1.5 trillion, which would raise between $30 billion and $50 billion in cash. This is on top of SpaceX’s projected 2026 revenue of $22 billion to $24 billion.
That gives SpaceX CEO Elon Musk a big pile of capital to spend on his Starship rocket, Starlink constellation, AI, and orbital data centers.
Bezos has also expressed interest in all of these technologies, with his 9×4 New Glenn rocket, lunar lander program, TerraWave constellation, and space-based data centers.
But—and yes, this is a strange thing to write about one of the top five richest people in the world—Bezos doesn’t have the resources to match SpaceX. Blue Origin’s annual revenue is not publicly known, but it is likely $1 billion per year. Bezos is spending many times that amount annually to fund the company, but the total amount is still less than SpaceX’s annual revenue. And this is before the IPO.
Until a few years ago, Bezos could more or less match the revenue provided by SpaceX with annual contributions to Blue Origin. Both companies had workforces of more than 10,000 people and broad ambitions. But as Starlink moves forward, and with an IPO on the horizon, SpaceX is making a significant leap forward.
All this raises the possibility that Bezos may eventually consider outside investment if he wants Blue Origin to remain competitive with SpaceX.
“He never really talked about outside investment,” said Chris Davenport, author of . rocket dreamsAbout Bezos. “The fact that Elon has had multiple liquidity events is going to put some pressure on Jeff and Blue Origin to at least think about it.”
<a href