Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, stated that his aerospace company is likely to go public within the next few years. This outlook comes after Blue Origin secured a substantial $10 billion funding round last month, which included outside investors and $2 billion from Bezos himself. The Amazon founder shared his perspective on Wednesday at Blue Origin's Florida factory, telling Fox News, "I see the financial future of Blue with some clarity now."
Bezos noted that the recent funding round, which valued the company at $140 billion according to The Wall Street Journal, signals that a public listing is becoming a sensible step. He anticipates an initial public offering will occur "several years from now."
Since founding Blue Origin in 2000, Bezos has invested approximately $28 billion of his personal capital into the company. Blue Origin is involved in commercial launch services, rocket manufacturing, and the development of lunar landers and rocket engines.
Financially, Blue Origin reported revenues of $800 million last year and projects approximately $1.4 billion in revenue for the current year. The company anticipates its revenue could exceed $30 billion by 2030.
Despite ambitious growth plans, Blue Origin faced a setback in May when one of its $150 million New Glenn rockets exploded into a fireball during an unmanned test launch. The incident destroyed the rocket and damaged the launchpad, impacting the company's efforts to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX. Blue Origin is preparing to return the New Glenn rocket to flight in December.
Earlier this year, Blue Origin experienced an issue where a customer's satellite was placed in the wrong orbit due to an under-launch, causing the client's stock to decline. The company launched the satellite from its Cape Canaveral, Florida site.
Bezos has expressed long-term goals for Blue Origin, including establishing a sustainable lunar base. He envisions utilizing lunar resources for manufacturing and producing rocket propellant, stating, "We’ll go to Mars. We’ll do all the other things. But we need to go to the moon first."