For the last 15 years, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have been embroiled in a bitter rivalry over everything from their space ventures to their positions as the richest men on the planet.
Here’s a rundown of their main rivalries.
WEALTH
Bezos has long claimed the title of the world’s richest man over his biggest rival but that all changed at the start of this year.
In January, Musk inched past Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg – and finally Bezos – to claim the number one spot when Tesla shares rocketed to an all-time high.
On January 7, his net worth hit $187 billion – $1 billion more than Bezos’s $186 billion.
But his victory was short-lived after some movement in both Amazon and Tesla shares over the coming days.
Amazon shares then jumped 1 percent on January 13, pushing his net worth to $184.9 billion, just $200 million richer than Musk’s then-net worth of $184.7 billion, according to Forbes.
Bezos has long claimed the title of the world’s richest man over his biggest rival but that all changed at the start of this year
SPACE TOURISM
Bezos and Musk are both racing to get their space tourism projects off the ground.
Bezos was first to make the move into spaceflight when he launched Blue Origin in 2000. Musk then launched Space X in 2002.
The long-running feud between the two men is rumored to have all started with a meeting in 2004 where they met to discuss their rocket plans and instantly rubbed each other up the wrong way.
‘I actually did my best to give good advice, which he largely ignored,’ Musk said of the meeting, according to ‘The Space Barons’ by Christian Davenport.
Tensions escalated in 2013 when SpaceX tried to get exclusive use of a NASA launchpad.
Bezos tweeted in 2015 that Blue Origin had successfully landed its New Shepard rocket to which Musk replied that his firm had done the same thing three years earlier
When it was Musk’s turn to boast of a successful landing that December, Musk then hit back ‘welcome to the club’
Blue Origin filed a complaint with the government to block the move and to instead make the launchpad available to all companies to use.
Musk fired back saying it was a ‘phony blocking tactic’ and hit out at the slow pace of Blue Origin’s plans saying ‘we are more likely to discover unicorns dancing in the flame duct’ than to see Bezos’s firm ready to launch a rocket.
SpaceX was granted the launchpad rights and the next year, Blue Origin filed a patent for drone ships – a critical component for landing rocket boosters.
SpaceX filed a suit and the patent was tossed.
They have repeatedly exchanged blows on Twitter since then.
Bezos tweeted in 2015 that Blue Origin had successfully landed its New Shepard rocket to which Musk replied that his firm had done the same thing three years earlier.
Bezos was first to make the move into spaceflight when he launched Blue Origin in 2000. Pictured Blue Origin
When it was Musk’s turn to boast of a successful landing that December, Musk then hit back ‘welcome to the club’.
Last year Musk also suggested Bezos was too old to keep going with Blue Origin.
‘The rate of progress is too slow and the amount of years he has left is not enough, but I’m still glad he’s doing what he’s doing with Blue Origin,’ Musk said.
Blue Origin has successfully used a single New Shepard Rocket six times but crewed missions for astronauts or tourists have yet to be announced.
Meanwhile SpaceX has carried out numerous launches carrying NASA equipment to the ISS and partnerships claiming it will send tourists to space in 2021.
On February 6 2018, SpaceX sent rocket towards the orbit of Mars, 140 million miles away, with Musk’s own red Tesla roadster attached.
Musk then launched Space X in 2002. A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in January
POACHING STAFF
Musk has repeatedly claimed Blue Origin has tried to steal staff from SpaceX.
‘Blue Origin does these surgical strikes on specialized talent offering like double their salaries,’ Musk said in 2015.
‘I think it’s unnecessary and a bit rude.’
The rivalry heated up in 2019 when Bezos reportedly hired SpaceX’s former vice president of satellites Rajeev Badyal.
INTERNET SATELLITES
Musk and Bezos clashed straight away over their internet satellite programs with Musk calling Bezos a ‘copycat’ when it emerged Amazon had plans to launch more than 3,000 internet satellites into space in 2019.
Musk’s SpaceX had previously announced plans to launch satellites for global broadband the previous year.
SpaceX has now asked FCC officials to be able to lower its orbit for its satellites.
Amazon responded asking FCC officials to limit SpaceX’s satellites to a minimum altitude of 580 kilometers at least until it has evaluated concerns of interference with other satellites.
Musk and Bezos clashed straight away over their internet satellite programs with Musk calling Bezos a ‘copycat’ when it emerged Amazon had plans to launch more than 3,000 internet satellites into space in 2019
This week the rivalry heated up when Musk tweeted: ‘It does not serve the public to hamstring Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that is at best several years away from operation.’
Director of Satellite Policy for SpaceX David Goldman had met with FCC officials last week to give a presentation to try to persuade regulators to allow Starlink to bring its satellites into lower altitudes.
In the presentation SpaceX argued that its rival ‘cherry pick[ed] data and ignore[d] the true changes in the modification’ and accused it of ‘misrepresent[ing] the true results’ from the proposed changes.
Bezos, who is less vocal on Twitter than his rival, clapped back via Amazon saying it is actually Musk who is trying to ‘hamstring’ and ‘smother competition in the cradle.’
SELF-DRIVING CARS
Musk branded Bezos a ‘copycat’ again in June 2020 when Amazon acquired self-driving-taxi company Zoox, after Musk’s Tesla has worked for years on its self-driving cars.
AND THE REST…
Musk is known for his controversial tweets and has been more vocal of his dislike for Bezos than the other way round.
When Bezos unveiled Blue Origin’s concept for a lunar-landing vehicle called Blue Moon, Musk mocked the name tweeting: ‘Putting the word ‘Blue’ on a ball is questionable branding.’
He has also hit out in person. When asked about his rivalry with Bezos in 2016, Musk replied: ‘Jeff who?’
Bezos meanwhile has taken aim at Musk’s lofty plans to send humans to the moon.
‘Go live on the top of Mount Everest for a year first and see if you like it, because it’s a garden paradise compared to Mars,’ Bezos said in 2019.