Bezos wants to imitate Musk: the use of the numbers 69 and 420 | Benzinga Spain

3 min reading

In the world of tech moguls, few rivalries resonate as loudly as that of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. However, it seems his competition has evolved into a game of comic imitation, reflecting not only on his galactic goals but now even in their financial movements.

Does Jeff Bezos imitate Elon Musk?

Bezos, founder of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Blue Origin, who stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021, recently indulged in an act that remarkably resembles the humor often used by Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc. (NADSQ:TSLA) and SpaceX.

Known for his playful, sometimes adolescent approach to business decisions and public announcements, Musk frequently uses the numbers 420 and 69 in his transactions and tweets, perhaps to attract younger investors or just for fun.

However, on May 26, mirroring Musk’s humor, Bezos bought a single Amazon share and reported the transaction to the precisely 4:20 PM.

Adding to the joke, the former Amazon CEO donated just over 69,000 shares, amounting to $7.8 million, to charity that same day, a move that was also reported at 4:20 PM. Elon Musk is currently the world’s second-richest person, ahead of Jeff Bezos, the world’s third-richest person, with a net worth of $197.6 billion and $144 billion, respectively.

This playful act by Bezos sheds a jovial light on the competition between the two billionaires.

Their competition, often visible in their respective space ventures, now appears to be unfolding in a jokingly mock display, hinting that Bezos, despite his tremendous personal success, might still be taking notes from Musk’s playbook.

Speaking of competition, this is where the rivalry started, according to a report from Business Insider for 2021.

The origin of the Musk-Bezos rivalry

Bezos, who founded Amazon five years before Musk founded PayPal Holdings Inc (NADSQ:PYPL), which was later sold to eBay Inc (NASDAQ:eBay), has long expressed his fascination with space. The billionaire’s interest culminated in the launch of Blue Origin in 2000.

However, Musk, who gained considerable wealth after selling PayPal, quickly became a formidable rival with the launch of SpaceX in 2002.

A unforgettable dinner in 2004 between the two CEOs strengthened the competitive dynamics that have dominated their relationship ever since. Both running start-up space companies at the time, they discussed their visions for reusable rockets. However, that meeting supposedly ended up at odds, which would have sparked the ongoing rivalry.

Their competition intensified in 2013 when SpaceX tried to secure exclusive use of a NASA launch pad, leading to a formal protest from Blue Origin. Later in 2014, Bezos and Musk entered into a patent battle over landing rocket boosters on unmanned ships, a dispute that ended in SpaceX’s favor.

In recent years, the rivalry has spilled over onto social media platforms, where billionaires often exchange comments. about their respective space companies.

Also read: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos already has his superyacht valued at $ 500M