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Unsuccessful meeting in 2004: Elon Musk
(left) and
Jeff Bezos
compete in the space business
"Jeff who?" Of course,
Elon Musk
knew
exactly which Jeff the BBC reporter was referring to a few years ago in a TV interview. But this is how he is, the multi-billionaire and boss of the electric car manufacturer Tesla and the space company SpaceX: leaves no opportunity to give one to his rival
Jeff Bezos
, founder of the retail giant Amazon and the space company Blue Origin.
The competition that the two entrepreneurs and super-rich have been celebrating for years - sometimes with a wink, sometimes seriously - is boiling up again these days. The setting this time: The richest list of the US magazine "Forbes". Earlier this year, Musk (50) replaced Bezos (57) at the top of the ranking as the richest person in the world. He succeeded again last week: The soaring Tesla share ensured that Musk's fortune surpassed the $ 200 billion mark, according to Forbes. This pushed him past Amazon founder Bezos to the top.
For the electric car entrepreneur, the jump to first place was apparently less important than the fact that he of all people outshone Bezos. He will send a large statue with the number 2 to the Amazon founder, along with a silver medal, Musk wrote in an email, according to Forbes.
For many years now, the two US entrepreneurs have been exchanging friendships like this, sometimes via the media, and often via the short message service Twitter.
At first sight, these are mostly harmless pinpricks, but in the background there are tough business interests at play, which are worth billions of dollars.
Musk and Bezos, with their companies SpaceX and Blue Origin, are two of the most important protagonists in the competition for lucrative space businesses.
Be it the emerging space tourism, be it lucrative orders from the US government - the competition is fierce.
Lawyers, satellites - and twice "copycat"
For example, in the legal field: a few weeks ago Blue Origin sued about a billion-dollar contract to develop a new lunar module for NASA, which competitor SpaceX had received. The US space agency had awarded the contract for 2.9 billion dollars, or around 2.5 billion euros, to SpaceX in April, whereupon Blue Origin had already expressed public criticism. "We firmly believe that the problems in the procurement process and its outcome must be resolved in order to restore fairness, ensure competition and ensure a safe return to the moon for America," said Blue Origin's current reasoning for the lawsuit.
It followed: Another exchange of blows between Musk and Bezos or their companies.
If lobbyism and lawyers were to pave the way into space, then Bezos would already be on Pluto, wrote Musk on Twitter.
At a tech conference last week, he added: Bezos should spend more energy on getting into space than in legal disputes, Musk said at "CodeCon 2021" in Beverly Hills, according to CNBC.
"You can't sue your way to the moon, no matter how good the lawyers are."
Bezos' answer was not long in coming.
SpaceX has a long history of litigation with the US government on space matters, Amazon said in a statement to CNBC.
It is difficult to see how this track record should fit together with the current criticism of others who have brought similar lawsuits.
Then Musk on Twitter: SpaceX sued to be admitted to the competition.
Blue Origin, on the other hand, is suing to stop competition.
The battle over the NASA contract is by no means the only legal dispute between the two adversaries.
Amazon is also taking action against SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet project.
Because there is also direct competition in this area: Amazon is working on its own satellite Internet project under the label "Project Kuiper".
And in this context, niceties were already flying through the Internet.
When Amazon's satellite plans became known a good two years ago, SpaceX had been active on the terrain for several years.
Reason enough for Musk to brand his counterpart Bezos as a "copycat" via Twitter:
Incidentally, a term that the Tesla boss came back to around a year later: In mid-2020, Amazon got involved in the self-driving car start-up Zoox.
The deal apparently triggered an irresistible urge in Elon Musk to quote himself on Twitter (note the renewed use of the cat emoji):
Zoox is by no means the only company with which Bezos comes close to his opponent in the auto business.
Amazon is also one of the most important investors and major customers of the electric car start-up Rivian, which is currently preparing to go public.
More skirmishes between Musk and Bezos could also follow in this area: Rivian wants to conquer the market for electric pick-ups, among other things - and Tesla has already presented a model in this segment with the "Cybertruck".
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Competitive
models
:
The electric pick-up R1T from Rivian ...
Photo: Mike Blake / REUTERS
And remarkable: Elon Musk seems to have a much stronger urge to repeatedly pester Jeff Bezos via Twitter and other media.
However, the Amazon founder is by no means just the recipient of this dispute.
In 2019, for example, Bezos performed at the Yale Club in New York City, where he spoke about future opportunities for space travel.
"My friends, who wants to go to Mars?", Bezos is quoted from this event.
"Do me a favor, first live for a year on the summit of Mount Everest and see if you like it. Because this is paradise compared to Mars."
Someone who speaks with great enthusiasm about the possibility of one day colonizing Mars with humans is well known: Elon Musk.
... and the Tesla cybertruck.
Photo: Ringo HW Chiu / AP / DPA
Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000, Musk launched SpaceX in 2002. Since then there has been a multitude of additional evidence of the relentless duel between the two alpha men on the Internet and in archives. One time it's about Bezos' older age, which, according to Musk, doesn't give him enough time to make real progress on his way into space, another time Blue Origin boss Bezos congratulates the SpaceX CEO on a successful rocket landing - and adds as a tip: "Welcome to the club!" Then again the Tesla boss is bothered by the monopoly-like market position of the Amazon group.
So it goes back and forth and back and forth. The relationship between the two began apparently peaceful: In 2004, still at the beginning of their space ventures, Musk and Bezos - quite civilized - met for dinner in a restaurant to discuss their plans. But even this meeting doesn't seem to have gone optimally, as the Vietnamese-Canadian journalist Trung Phan reports:
"I tried everything to give him good advice, but he stubbornly ignored it," Musk later summed up the conversation, according to Christian Davenport's book "The Space Barons".
Bezos went the wrong way with the missile development.
Musk wanted to prevent Bezos from making the same mistakes that he had already made with SpaceX at the time - but the Blue Origin boss was allegedly unwavering.
This laid the foundation for the longstanding feud between the two men.
The latest successful space flight of Musk's SpaceX rocket with four space tourists on board the space capsule, Bezos now countered by saying that he will soon launch Captain Kirk actor William Shatner (90) into space.
However, there are also lighter moments in the exchange between Musk and Bezos.
Shortly before Bezos took off into orbit with his Blue Origin team this summer, Musk wished him "Best of luck" on Twitter:
Bezos later returned the favor with congratulations to Musk and SpaceX, who had also successfully launched into space with the spaceship "Inspiration4".
"Another step into a future in which space is accessible to all of us," said the Amazon founder.
Elon Musk replied unusually good: "Thank you"
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