Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said on October 7 that his space company Blue Origin may hold an initial public offering (IPO) in the future, but a formal listing remains several years away. This is one of the clearest statements Bezos has made to date on Blue Origin's potential listing plans.

Earlier this year, Blue Origin completed its first large-scale external funding round since its founding, raising $10 billion at a valuation of roughly $130 billion to $140 billion. As the company secures multi-billion-dollar space program contracts from the U.S. government and accelerates its heavy-lift rocket plans, Blue Origin is gradually expanding the scale of its external financing.

Considering a Listing After 26 Years, Bezos Has Personally Invested $28 Billion

Bezos said in an interview on October 7: "I think Blue Origin will go public someday, but that should be a few years from now. In the long run, making Blue Origin a public company could be a reasonable choice."

Founded in 2000, Blue Origin has long relied on Bezos's personal investment to support its business development. Bezos disclosed that to date he has personally invested a cumulative $28 billion in the space company. This year, Blue Origin carried out large-scale external financing for the first time, raising $10 billion from outside investors at a company valuation of about $130 billion to $140 billion. This funding round also marks a shift in Blue Origin's funding sources, from founder's personal investment toward the introduction of large external investors.

Winning Multi-Billion-Dollar Contracts from NASA and the U.S. Space Force, Heavy Rocket Plans to Resume Launches by Year-End

Blue Origin has now secured contracts totaling billions of dollars from NASA and the U.S. Space Force, including participation in the U.S. Artemis lunar landing program. These contracts provide the company with long-term business opportunities and make it one of SpaceX's important competitors in the U.S. commercial space sector.

However, Blue Origin's heavy-lift rocket program still faces execution challenges. Bezos said that due to a previous launch pad explosion, the launch schedule for the New Glenn rocket was once delayed, and the company now plans to resume launches in December this year. The New Glenn rocket is an important project for Blue Origin to expand its orbital launch business, and its subsequent progress will affect the company's ability to carry out large space missions and expand into the commercial launch market.

SpaceX Listed at a Valuation of $1.77 Trillion, While Blue Origin Is Still in an Expansion Phase

Bezos's remarks on listing plans come right after rival SpaceX completed a record-breaking public offering. In June this year, Musk's SpaceX raised $75 billion through an IPO, with a listing valuation of $1.77 trillion, setting a global record for IPO fundraising scale.

Based on Blue Origin's latest funding round valuation of $130 billion to $140 billion, its valuation is equivalent to about 7% to 8% of SpaceX's listing valuation, and there is still a clear gap between the two companies in capital market pricing. At present, Blue Origin has obtained new funding support through external financing and holds large contracts from NASA and the U.S. Space Force, but its heavy rocket business is still being advanced. Bezos's statement this time provides a clearer direction for Blue Origin's future entry into the public capital markets. However, according to the timeline he himself gave, the company's formal IPO will still take several years.