Elon Musk slams rocket rival Jeff Bezos: ‘You can’t sue your way to the moon’
The space race between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos is getting personal again.
The Tesla CEO slammed the Amazon founder on Tuesday over multiple legal fights between the two billionaires’ space ventures.
“You cannot sue your way to the Moon, no matter how good your lawyers are,” Musk said.
Musk made the comments in an interview with the journalist Kara Swisher, who had asked him about a lawsuit Bezos’ Blue Origin filed in August against NASA over the agency’s decision to give a $2.9 billion moon lander contract to Musk’s SpaceX.
Amazon also filed a complaint against SpaceX with the Federal Communications Commission the same month, urging the regulator to reject SpaceX’s plan to launch more satellites as part of its satellite internet business.
Swisher asked Musk if he had personally spoken to Bezos about the issue.
“Not verbally, just… subtweets,” Musk replied.
It’s not the first time Musk has taunted Bezos over his legal maneuvers.
In August, the Tesla CEO accused Bezos of having stepped down as Amazon CEO in order to spend his time filing lawsuits against SpaceX.
“Turns out Besos [sic] retired in order to pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX…” Musk wrote on Twitter — misspelling Bezos’ name, instead writing the Spanish word for “kisses.”
A Blue Origin spokesperson, asked by The Post for a reply to Musk’s musings, said: “SpaceX is well aware, having benefitted from its own frequent protests and court filings against NASA and the US Air Force, that such actions are common practice in the government procurement process.”
Musk — who recently who recently revealed that he’s “semi-separated” from Canadian singer Grimes — routinely jockeys with Bezos for the title of world’s wealthiest man and currently occupies the top spot, according to Forbes. Musk is worth $200.3 billion compared to Bezos’ $193.1 billion, the magazine estimates.
A surge in Tesla stock most recently catapulted Musk past Bezos on Monday.
When the magazine asked him for comment on the development, Musk quipped, “I’m sending a giant statue of the digit ‘2’ to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal.”
Elsewhere in Tuesday’s interview, Musk accused the Biden administration of being “biased” against Tesla and “controlled by unions.”
In particular, he criticized an August electrical vehicle summit at the White House to which other automakers were invited.
At the event, the White House “didn’t mention Tesla once and praised GM and Ford for leading the EV revolution,” according to Musk.
“Does that sound maybe a little biased?” he added. “Not the friendliest administration, seems to be controlled by unions.”
Musk has tussled with union advocates in the past. Earlier this year, the National Labor Relations Board ordered Musk to delete a tweet that the regulator said amounted to retaliate against Tesla workers by pulling their stock options if they unionize.
“Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?” reads the tweet, which Musk has still not deleted.
Musk also weighed in on how bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies should be regulated.
“It is not possible to, I think, destroy crypto, but it is possible for governments to slow down its advancement,” said Musk.
Musk was then asked what the US government should do to regulate the cryptocurrency space — which critics point out is rife with scams, fraud and money laundering.
“I would say, ‘Do nothing,’” said Musk, who personally owns cryptocurrencies and has overseen billions of dollars in crypto purchases by Tesla.
