COLORADO SPRINGS — Looking to start space-tourism flights in 2018 that he predicts will open the floodgates for a new breed of entrepreneurs, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -0.38% CEO Jeff Bezos said in some years he has personally invested up to $1 billion to further those goals.
Flanked by a New Shepard rocket featuring the telltale scorch marks of multiple flights, Bezos appeared before a gaggle of reporters during a conference here Wednesday to lay out his vision for Blue Origin LLC, the company he founded more than a decade ago to lower launch costs and make reusable rockets a reality.
He said he was “hopeful” that Blue Origin will begin offering trips for paying customers next year, adding that “I’m super optimistic” there will be a large market for such 11-minute thrill rides in a fully automated capsule offering views of the earth from the edge of space. Blue Origin hasn’t yet set a price or begun marketing efforts.
As one of the world’s most successful and widely known entrepreneurs—and a self-described “space geek” who became fascinated by human exploration of the heavens as a youngster after watching Apollo moon landings—Bezos has pumped big chunks of his fortune into Blue Origin. Until Wednesday, however, he kept the amount confidential.
But in response to questions about the company’s finances, he said: “I sell about $1 billion a year of Amazon stock and I use it to invest in Blue Origin.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jeff-bezos-envisions-coming-golden-age-of-space-travel-2017-04-05
