Elon Musk Play

Elon has spent years cultivating his image as a disruptor, and his new relationship with Trump has some worried that he could use government power to crush competition.

Critics warn that Elon could push federal agencies to investigate rivals, change regulations to his companies’ advantage, or close down government contracts with SpaceX and Tesla.

“The federal government has a bunch of tools in its toolbox,” he said. “The question is, will those tools be governed by objective standards or by the financial motivations of President Elon Musk?”

Bezos knows this well. The two billionaires have been rivals for years, battling over NASA contracts, satellite launches, and even the title of the world’s richest person. Elon’s SpaceX has consistently outmaneuvered Bezos’s Blue Origin, winning lunar landing and mission deals to the International Space Station. Elon has long mocked Bezos, calling him a “copycat” and dismissing Blue Origin as a distant second in the space race.

Now Elon’s dominance extends beyond rockets. SpaceX’s Starlink has launched thousands of satellites, giving it a lead in the low-Earth orbit internet market.

Bezos’s rival Project Kuiper is still in development, with Amazon planning to send up 3,200 satellites to challenge Starlink