Blue Origin's latest valuation rises to $140 billion.

Cailian Press, September 25 (Editor: Shi Zhengcheng) News from Beijing time early Friday morning shows that the ongoing financing of Blue Origin, the rocket company of former world's richest person Bezos, has pushed the company's valuation up to $140 billion. According to reports, based on the $140 billion valuation, Blue Origin's current financing round, which was "oversubscribed," has already raised $10 billion. People familiar with the matter said the final size of this financing round may exceed the initial target of $10 billion. This is also Blue Origin's first financing from external investors since it was founded in 2000. Company founder Bezos also invested $2 billion in this round, bringing his total investment in the company to $30 billion. As the former world's richest person, Bezos's wealth stems from building Amazon into an e-commerce and cloud computing giant. The Forbes rich list shows that Bezos is currently the "world's second richest person," with a total net worth of $369.3 billion. For many years, he has funded his space endeavors by selling Amazon shares. With the first external financing underway, Blue Origin's rarely disclosed financial data and growth targets have also surfaced. According to reports, Blue Origin's 2025 revenue is about $800 million, and it is expected to reach about $1.4 billion in 2026. It plans to achieve more than $30 billion in annual revenue by 2030. A large part of this "$30 billion pie" will come from the rocket launch business, as well as satellite internet operations and a planned AI satellite business. In January this year, the company announced the launch of the TeraWave satellite communications network, planning to deploy 5,408 satellites to provide high-capacity connectivity services to enterprise, data center, and government customers. According to the arrangement announced at the time, satellite deployment will begin in the fourth quarter of 2027. After more than two decades of investment, Blue Origin has grown into a large aerospace enterprise with about 15,000 employees and facilities in multiple locations across the United States. At the same time, CEO Dave Limp is pushing business adjustments, concentrating resources on key technology development and fulfillment of NASA projects through measures such as layoffs and pausing suborbital space tourism flights. This adjustment has already led to concrete actions. In January this year, Blue Origin announced it would suspend New Shepard flights for at least two years, shifting resources toward accelerating the development of crewed lunar landing capabilities. As of the announcement, it had completed 38 flights in total, carrying 98 people across the Karman line and flying more than 200 scientific research payloads. However, to deliver on this growth blueprint, Blue Origin still needs to get past the hurdle of returning its rocket to flight. On the evening of May 28 local time, one of the company's New Glenn heavy rockets exploded during a static fire test at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket was destroyed, and the launch facilities were also severely damaged. At the time of the accident, the rocket was preparing for a mission to deliver 48 Amazon Leo internet satellites to space. The post-accident investigation gradually identified the problem. Limp disclosed on August 5 that the anomaly originated from the main oxygen valve of a BE-4 engine, and debris recovery and inspection further confirmed this judgment. The company has conducted component tests and engine ignition tests, and made minor modifications to the valve so that existing engines can be quickly retrofitted. Launch site reconstruction is also proceeding in parallel. Blue Origin decided to adjust its rocket assembly and erection process: first horizontally mate the rocket stages inside the factory, then transport it to the launch pad, use a crane to raise the rocket upright, and finally install the payload. The company hopes to use this to resume launches and increase the execution frequency of subsequent missions. As of press time, Blue Origin still aims to resume New Glenn flights before the end of this year. However, their customers remain cautious about this timetable. Scott Wisniewski, president of satellite communications company AST SpaceMobile, said at an August earnings call that Blue Origin has made great progress in launch pad repairs and the accident cause investigation, but AST has not made Blue Origin's return to flight within the year a precondition for its own satellite deployment forecast. This article is reprinted from "Cailian Press"; GMTEight editor: mz