Jeff Bezos’s wealth jumped substantially this week, narrowing the gap with Elon Musk, who recently crossed the trillion-dollar mark. The surge was driven by Blue Origin, the space company Bezos founded in 2000.
Jeff Bezos’ Net Worth is Soaring This Year
Bloomberg data shows that Bezos has a net worth of $372 billion, making him the second-richest person in the world. He has gained over $122 billion from the same point this year.
In contrast, Musk has a net worth of over $1 trillion, having gained $548 billion in wealth in the same period, thanks to the SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) IPO that raised over $85 billion in June.
Jeff Bezos’s wealth jumped after Blue Origin raised new capital at a $130 billion valuation. Bezos contributed $2 billion to the round, while Coatue Management provided about $4 billion. Other institutional investors are expected to supply the remainder.
It is the first time the company has taken money from outside investors. Over the years, Bezos has put roughly $30 billion of his own money into Blue Origin, which is one of SpaceX’s top competitors. Bezos now expects the company to go public through an IPO soon.
The fundraising comes a few weeks after Blue Origin won a $700 million NASA contract to build its next telecommunications orbiter on its Blue Ring platform. The company also secured a $468 million NASA contract for another uncrewed lunar mission, part of the agency’s $20 billion moon base program. Unlike during Donald Trump’s first term, Bezos has kept a close relationship with the president in his second.
Amazon Stock Recovery Has Also Boosted Bezos’ Wealth
The ongoing Bezos wealth surge is also driven by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), the e-commerce and cloud computing giant. After falling to $196 in February this year, the stock has rebounded to $262 today.
Amazon is benefiting from the rising demand for computing power as the artificial intelligence boom gains steam. It is also a big beneficiary of the ongoing Anthropic surge, with its annualized revenue hitting $70 billion. Estimates are that its IPO will value it at over $2 trillion.
Anthropic has also committed to spending over $100 billion with Amazon in the next ten years. It is also a big user of its Tranium AI chips.
The next important driver for Amazon shares will be its earnings release later this month. Estimates are that its revenue jumped by 12% in the last quarter to $202 billion, with its earnings-per-share remaining at $1.95.
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