There are two men at the center of a modern space race, which is turning into a battle of the billionaire Bs: Branson and Bezos.
Let’s start with Jeff Bezos.
The richest man in the world founded his aerospace company, Blue Origin, in 2000. Of course, you know about his other company, a little website called Amazon. He recently stepped down as CEO of the company, handing the role over to Andy Jassy, a 24-year veteran at Amazon.
But did you know he was raised in Houston and attended River Oaks Elementary before his family moved to Miami?
The Princeton grad started Amazon in 1994 and he’s been raking in the bucks since. The latest count from Forbes puts his net worth around $213 billion and keeps him securely at the top of the list of the world’s richest people.
By comparison, you have to drop nearly 500 spots down that list to find Sir Richard Branson, whose net worth is estimated to be around $6 billion.
His space company, which he founded in 2004, is called Virgin Galactic. It’s part of his conglomerate of businesses called the Virgin Group, which all started with Virgin Records in 1972. In all, the group includes more than "40 companies operating in 35 countries and employing more than 60,000 people," per its website.
Branson is a high-profile Brit and high school dropout, as well as a thrill-seeker who boasts a number of world records.