Elon Musk is known for his rivalry with big tech giants, which Amazon shareholders now claim is a factor in deals worth billions of dollars.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the Tesla CEO appear to have been at odds for years, largely over the competition to win the commercial space race.
Last year, Amazon announced the largest rocket deal in the history of commercial spaceflight.Amazon is Contract for the Kuiper program– Opportunity to launch low-Earth orbit satellites for Internet services.
Amazon confirmed it will invest $10 billion in the project and signed three contractors: United Launch Alliance (ULA) (a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin), European company Arianespace and Blue Origin ( Bezos himself founded a private company).
But missing from that lineup is Musk-founded SpaceX, which has reportedly Launched approximately 5,000 Since 2019, it has provided internet satellites for its rival service Starlink.
But despite it being a direct competitor, Amazon shareholder Cleveland Bakers and Truckers Pension Fund (CB&T) has filed a complaint against Bezos and the online giant’s board for not properly vetting SpaceX as a viable option for the Kuiper project.
The document highlights the rivalry between Bezos and Musk, and even offers screenshots of posts on X (formerly known as Twitter) in which the pair poked fun at each other about various space adventures, CNBC report.
The filing also reportedly added that Amazon executives — including current CEO Andy Jassy — “consciously and willfully violated their most basic fiduciary duties” by handing over jobs to three, and ignored SpaceX in the proceedings.
The document added that Amazon leadership “excluded the most visible and affordable launch provider, SpaceX, from the procurement process because of Bezos’ personal rivalry with Musk,” CNBC reported.
“It must be assumed that Bezos was unable to let go of his pride and enlist the help of his sworn enemy to launch the Amazon satellite,” the lawsuit reportedly added.
Amazon has dismissed the lawsuit.A company spokesman told wealth: “The claims in this lawsuit are completely baseless, and we look forward to proving that through the legal process.”
It was not immediately clear whether SpaceX submitted bids for the work, or expressed interest in helping competitors launch their own satellites.
The company did not immediately respond wealth Request for comment.
Bezos and Blue Origin
this It is also reported that There are “clear conflicts of interest” over Bezos’ proximity to Amazon and Blue Origin.
Bezos, who founded Amazon in 1994 and launched Blue Origin six years later, still chairs the company’s board.
CB&T claims Amazon’s audit committee received a “brief summary of the terms of the contract” after only a few minutes of discussion before “rubber-stamping” the transaction, CNBC reported.
It added that the committee “has no information on how Bezos and his management team negotiated with Blue Origin. It has no information on the extent of Bezos’ involvement. Other launch providers, if any, explore information for contracting.”
It also highlights clear problems with Blue Origin’s contract past —Reports surfaced in February One of the company’s New Glenn rockets, designated as one of a lander, exploded during a test NASA’s $3.4 billion project.
Musk vs Bezos
It may be difficult for Musk to track which tech giants he has feuded with, because there are so many.
In recent years, he has gotten into physical altercations with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, called Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates a “fool,” and been called a “jerk” by OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
Musk also took a shot at Apple CEO Tim Cook. Musk doesn’t just suggest iPhone maker has ‘bias’ release Last November: “Apple threatened to remove Twitter from its App Store, but wouldn’t tell us why.”
Cook responded Grid Q Interview: “(My) philosophy is participation.”
Yet Bezos is one of Musk’s longest-standing rivals, who even called for Amazon to be broken up —claim This is a “monopoly”.
The pair’s space race rivalry has also been a bone of contention.
Congratulations @SpaceX On the suborbital booster stage of the Falcon lander. Welcome to the club!
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) December 22, 2015
Musk accused Bezos of copying after news broke that Amazon was looking to launch its competitor, Starlink.
Maybe it’s a coincidence🤷♂️
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
The world’s richest man also previously said that Bezos “retired to find a full-time job and file a lawsuit against SpaceX,” and then later told bezos You “went to the moon with lawsuits”.
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