Jeff Bezos Will Sell $1 Billion In Amazon Stock A Year To Fund Space Exploration

Jeff Bezos has been having quite an exciting year. He just became the world’s 2nd richest person, overtaking Warren Buffet.

Bezos revealed this week that he will be selling about $1 billion in Amazon stock a year so that he can fund his Blue Origin rocket company.

Looks like he’s finding a liking for space exploration the same way Elon Musk has with SpaceX. If it was up to Bezos, many of us would be living “The Jetsons” life in space and with his billions, it may just happen!

Bezos’ personal fortune jumped to $75.6 billion following a rise in Amazon’s stock last month.

Bezos has plans to make Blue Origin into a commercial and tourist venture. According to the CEO of Amazon, it would cost about $2.5 billion to develop an even bigger rocket, New Glenn, which would be capable of lifting satellites and later on even people into orbit.

New Glenn is expected to fly by 2020, which is only 3 years from now, however passengers wouldn’t be human for many years later.

Bezos believes that reusable rocket parts are a key to lowering the price of admission to the field and it could lead to a “golden age of space exploration.”

“If we can make access to space low-cost, then entrepreneurs will be unleashed,” he said on Wednesday. “You will see creativity, you will see dynamism, you will see the same thing in space that I’ve witnessed on the internet in the last 20 years.”

Mr. Bezos has a long-term vision of having millions of people living and working in space.

“We are really evolved to be pioneers,” Bezos told Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget at the 2014 Ignition conference. “And for good reason. New worlds have a way of saving old worlds… And that’s how it should be. We need the frontier. My vision is I want to see millions of people living and working in space.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and have not been compensated for this article.