Limp’s email did not provide details about the new plan, other than to say, “As Blue achieves its goals and increases its value, its capital will grow along with it.”
To compete with SpaceX, Blue must continue to grow. The exact figures SpaceX will target with its IPO have not been established, but the company is likely seeking a valuation close to $1.5 trillion, which would raise between $30 billion and $50 billion in cash. This is in addition to SpaceX’s estimated 2026 revenue of between $22 billion and $24 billion.
This gives SpaceX CEO Elon Musk a huge amount of capital to invest in his Starship rocket, Starlink constellation, artificial intelligence, and orbital data centers.
Bezos has also expressed interest in all of these technologies, with his 9×4 New Glenn rocket, his lunar landing program, TeraWave Constellationand spatial data centers.
But (and yes, it’s strange to write this about one of the 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 is probably on the order of $1 billion a year. Bezos is pumping in multiples of that figure annually to fund the company, but this total is still dwarfed by SpaceX’s annual revenue. And that’s before an IPO.
Until a few years ago, Bezos could more or less match SpaceX’s revenue with annual contributions to Blue Origin. Both companies had a workforce of more than 10,000 people and broad ambitions. But as Starlink moves full speed ahead and with an initial public offering on the horizon, SpaceX is taking a major leap upward.
All of this raises the possibility that Bezos may finally consider taking on outside investments if he wants Blue Origin to remain competitive with SpaceX.
“He’s never really talked about seeking outside investment,” said Chris Davenport, author of Rocket dreamsabout Bezos. “The fact that Elon has had a series of liquidity events will put some pressure on Jeff and Blue Origin to at least think about it.”
