If you've been living in a quiet zone, blocking all incoming radio, you might be one of the few people around who don't know that a SpaceX Initial Public Offering (IPO) is going to drop fairly soon. They 're saying "in June" but no more specific than that. You might not know it's being talked about regularly - and excitedly - as potentially the biggest IPO ever.
Word is starting to pop up that they might not be the only IPO. Their competitor in the private space world, Blue Origin, might be getting ready to drop an IPO as well.
Chief Executive Dave Limp told employees at a recent all-hands meeting that the company would require outside investment if it were to significantly increase its launch cadence, according to details of the meeting from two people who attended.
He said it would “take a lot of capital” to achieve the number of rocket launches Blue Origin has targeted—more money than would be available with “just one investor,” the people added.
Blue Origin was founded by Jeff Bezos, who also founded Amazon, so a billionaire in the same league as SpaceX's Elon Musk. While their New Glenn was delivered years later than originally talked about, it launched for the first time in 2025 and added a second flight late in '25, then their third mission just a month ago in April. That's when the second stage problem showed up and led to the vehicle being grounded.
The thing is, Blue is spending lots this year. As one half of the lunar landers picked for Artemis, they're spending to get their Blue Moon Mark 1 lander cleared for Artemis III testing next year and to launch their TeraWave satellite constellation. Plus, they're building a new 800,000 sq ft manufacturing facility and a second launch pad on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Limp was speaking to employees as he responded to questions on a new stock option plan. He said that similar to OpenAI and SpaceX, the group could use fundraising rounds to help staff exercise stock options. “We wrote this plan intentionally to allow for that,” he said.
He said the company needed to be “ready for external funding” and he was confident in strong interest from outside investors.
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The company is expected to spend roughly $4.8 billion this year, according to analysts at Capstone, a Washington-based consulting firm. It estimates the group has spent nearly $28 billion since its inception.
Blue has said a couple of times that their goal is 100 launches per year but has yet to make much progress in that direction. This year in April, CEO Limp said the group was planning between eight and 12 launches in total this year with New Glenn.
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Space Force
Station, Florida, at 7:25 am EDT (11:25 UTC) April 19, 2026. Credit: Paul
Hennesy/Anadolu via Getty Images
They still acknowledge the goal of 100 launches of New Glenn in a year, but say to think of that as a longer-term goal.
SpaceX, maybe...Blue Origin, no, no, no. I buy results, not promises.
ReplyDeleteIs Bezos tired of funding his old hobby and wants to cash out? What is the comparative value of Blue Origin vs ULA vs Rocket Lab? Blue Origin would be better positioned if they could point to actual successes. Hopefuly, this will inspire the industry to greater efforts.
ReplyDeleteGotta pay all those lawyers in the Lawfare Division!
ReplyDeleteThey are so far behind SpaceX that catching up to them is well nigh impossible.
ReplyDeleteIf SpaceX suddenly stopped launching, they'd still be so far ahead of Blue, I don't think Blue could last long enough to catch them.
DeleteIt's one thing that, like last year, they launched more payloads to orbit than the rest of the world combined. A reader forwarded a link to someone I didn't see or even know of before, showing that SpaceX has only 200 more Starlink sats to launch as many satellites as the rest of the world combined in all of the space age.