Jeff Bezos blasted into space on 20th July when he took part in his Blue Origin company’s flight into the solar system onboard their New Shepard rocket.
The Amazon CEO has been joined by his brother Mark, 82-year-old space race pioneer Wally Funk and 18-year-old student Oliver Daemen.
WATCH: Blue Origin launches a rocket with Jeff Bezos and three others aboard to space 🚀 https://t.co/gptPWOLeNK pic.twitter.com/HE5FFJI4ce
— Bloomberg (@business) July 20, 2021
Their short flight to the edge of space, which lasted just 11 minutes appears to have gone off without a hitch and will be a historic and proud moment for Bezos, who founded Blue Origin in 2000.
This is also the latest chapter in the ongoing billionaires’ space race, with Bezos joining the likes of Richard Branson and Elon Musk in their desire to conquer the stars above our heads and maybe beyond.
Blue Origin is still relatively established in comparison to Musk but Bezos holds an advantage over his competitor by being the richest man in the world. Musk isn’t far behind and we doubt it bothers him too much, to be honest.
However, many pointed out that Bezos was no longer the richest man on the planet today, albeit for a relatively short amount of time, thereby boosting Musk’s ranking.
Technically Elon Musk is now the richest man on Earth.
— Money (@Money) July 20, 2021
If Jeff Bezos goes to space, then Elon Musk becomes the richest man on Earth temporarily.
— Srivatsan Prakash (@SrivatsPrakash) July 20, 2021
“For a brief moment in time, Elon Musk became the richest man on earth again” - @jimcramer paraphrased
— litquidity (@litcapital) July 20, 2021
Well, technically, Jeff Bezos is no longer the richest man on Earth
— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) July 20, 2021
Congratulations to Elon Musk for temporarily becoming the richest man on Earth again. #BlueOrigin
— Steve N Allen (@mrstevenallen) July 20, 2021
I guess for a few minutes there, @elonmusk was the richest man on Earth again.
— Rob La Gesse (@kr8tr) July 20, 2021
When you are the richest man on Earth | But only while Jeff Bezos is in space. #BlueOrigin pic.twitter.com/rN4i7RJhFZ
— Bryant (@BryantGarcia) July 20, 2021
So Elon got to be the richest man on earth again for 11 minutes.
— BigTexCrypto📉📈💰🚀🇺🇸 (@BigTexCrypto1) July 20, 2021
For the next 11 minutes, Elon Musk is the richest man on Earth
— Robert Smith NPR (@radiosmith) July 20, 2021
That being said, unfortunately, Musk didn’t quite climb to the top spot, as many of these tweet suggested. French businessman and the chief executive of LVMH Bernard Arnault is the second richest man in the world. Thankfully some folks did manage to check the Forbes billionaires list before tweeting.
Bernard Arnault became the richest person on Earth for a few minutes as Jeff Bezos went to space 🤷🏻♂️ 🚀 #BlueOrigin pic.twitter.com/cWunTpB9xL
— Joel Franco (@OfficialJoelF) July 20, 2021
At approximately 9am Eastern Bernard Arnault will take the title of "Richest Person On Earth" for 11 minutes.
— Jesse Addy (@JesseAddy) July 20, 2021
For a few minutes today, the wealthiest people on the planet were:
— Michael Seeley (@Mike_Seeley) July 20, 2021
1. Bernard Arnault (& family)
2. @elonmusk
3. @BillGates
(Source: https://t.co/tPR2kdZiO3)
Congratulations to Bernard Arnault for being the richest person on Earth!
— Benoit Doidic (@quadlazer) July 20, 2021
at 9:13a EDT, Bernard Arnault will be the richest person "on earth" #Bezos
— Jonathan Penn (@jonpenn7) July 20, 2021
50-year-old Musk, who has a net worth of $160.3 billion was actually the richest man in the world earlier this year but he lost it back to Bezos in February after the share price of Telsa fell. 72-year-old Arnault has a net worth of $181.7 billion.
However, Bezos significantly eclipses them both with a net worth of $205 billion.
It’s more than likely the Bezos is the richest person in the universe unless there is an alien equivalent of the 57-year-old off in some far-flung reaches of the galaxy who made their fortune through interplanetary retail.
