Jeff Bezos Is Closing the Net Worth Gap With Elon Musk, Thanks to Blue Origin

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. Read Also: MAGS: Top Magnificent 7 ETF Shows Renewed Demand as Top Stocks Jump Ahead of Earnings 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. Read Also: Disney Stock Falls Into a Correction, but Goldman Sachs Calls It Highly Compelling Image: Shutterstock