Jeff Bezos hits back at Musk in sniping over Tesla, SpaceX holdings

By Sana Pashankar

 

Jeff Bezos has shot down Elon Musk’s claim that the Amazon.com Inc. founder told “everyone” Donald Trump would lose the US election and they should sell off their SpaceX and Tesla Inc. stock. 

“Nope. 100 per cent not true,” Bezos said in a rare post Thursday on X, the social media platform Musk owns. Musk then appeared to back down. “Well, then, I stand corrected,” the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive officer replied on Thursday — adding a laughter emoji. 

 

It’s the latest tit-for-tat between the world’s two richest individuals, whose businesses compete in the commercial space industry.  

 

Musk owns SpaceX, which dominates the rocket launch industry and operates the Starlink satellite internet service. Bezos founded space tourism and exploration company Blue Origin and is executive chair of Amazon, which is building out a rival satellite network called Project Kuiper — though both endeavors have fallen far behind Musk’s. Amazon is also the biggest shareholder in Tesla rival Rivian Automotive Inc.

 

The public exchange comes as Musk, who spent more than $130 million on Trump and down-ballot Republicans in competitive House races, enjoys a prominent role in Trump’s inner circle. Tesla’s shares have jumped more than 30 per cent since the Nov. 5 election, helping Musk’s net worth balloon to more than $340 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

 

Musk’s initial late-night post to his more than 200 million followers underscored his close ties to Trump, saying he learned the Bezos gossip at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. 

 

Musk and Bezos have sparred previously. In 2021, Blue Origin sued NASA for awarding $2.9 billion to SpaceX to develop a lunar lander. The two men have duked it out before US regulators over celestial real estate for their satellite fleets.