Blue Origin's $140 billion funding round makes Jeff Bezos the world's second-richest person

Valuation and Bezos' fortune

Blue Origin's latest funding round values the company at $140 billion (€125 billion), a valuation that boosted Jeff Bezos' fortune by $87 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bezos' wealth now stands at $368.5 billion, moving him ahead of Alphabet co-founder Larry Page and behind only Elon Musk at $1.02 trillion. The same index put Bezos' wealth at $285 billion at the close of trading on Wednesday. Bezos owns 93% of the company following the round, according to the wealth index. Bloomberg had previously valued his Blue Origin stake at $17 billion, based on estimates of the amount he had invested. Bezos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Outside investors and the first external round

Coatue Management is the only new investor identified in the round, with a roughly $4 billion contribution according to data from Pitchbook, and Bezos has invested in Coatue funds. The round marks the first time Blue Origin has raised outside equity capital, while SpaceX has long relied on outside investors to fuel its growth. Bezos told Fox News that Blue Origin had raised more than $10 billion in its first external funding round, and that he had personally invested $28 billion in the company since its founding in 2000. The Wall Street Journal reported a different total, saying Bezos had invested about $30 billion since founding Blue Origin, including $2 billion in the latest round.

IPO prospects and the gap with SpaceX

Bezos said Blue Origin is likely to pursue a stock market listing, though not soon:

I think, someday, Blue Origin will have an IPO. It would be several years from now. But it probably makes sense for Blue Origin to be a public company at some point.

Rival SpaceX listed in June, and Elon Musk became a trillionaire after that initial public offering. Musk has added $405 billion to his fortune this year, even with a pullback in the company's shares, and owns about 35% of SpaceX excluding options and restricted shares. SpaceX generated nearly $18.7 billion in revenue last year, compared with about $800 million for Blue Origin, according to the Wall Street Journal, and has a market capitalisation of about $2.23 trillion.

Musk responded to a clip of the Fox News interview on X with "Brawo!" and wrote that he was pleased Bezos cares so much about space.

I'm glad Jeff Bezos cares so much about space.

The two companies compete in several areas, including orbital launch and lunar transportation.

Launch plans after the May explosion

Blue Origin aims to resume New Glenn launches this year, after a launch-pad explosion during a static-fire test in May delayed its efforts to compete with SpaceX in the commercial launch market. The company has also secured multibillion-dollar NASA and US Space Force contracts, including work on the Artemis lunar programme, according to RTE. Bezos said the vehicle will fly again:

December of this year, we're going to fly that vehicle again.