Bezos Opens Blue Origin to Outside Investors at $140B Valuation, Eyes IPO in Coming Years
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos confirmed this month that his space company Blue Origin has closed its first-ever outside funding round - $10 billion from institutional investors - in the company's 26-year history. The Wall Street Journal reported in September that the round valued Blue Origin at about $140 billion.
Bezos confirmed the shift at an industry event on October 7, saying he now sees Blue Origin's financial future "with some clarity." He disclosed that he has personally invested about $28 billion in the company since founding it in 2000, funded largely by selling Amazon shares year by year. On going public, he said Blue Origin will likely pursue an IPO "possibly several years from now."
In an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier filmed on Blue Origin's Cape Canaveral factory floor, Bezos offered an unapologetic defense of wealth creation: "Success is not villainy." Building a massively successful enterprise, he said, is not something society should apologize for or view with suspicion. Elon Musk applauded on X: "Bravo! I'm glad Jeff Bezos cares so much about space."
Blue Origin has also announced a $550 million satellite manufacturing complex, Constellation Park, in Texas, to build satellites for its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket, which is slated to return to flight in December. Blue Origin still trails Musk's SpaceX, which reached a valuation of about $1.77 trillion after its June public listing. Forbes estimates Bezos's net worth at about $380 billion, ranking him second in the world.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：杰夫·贝索斯。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 2.0，摄影：Mike Maguire
