Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos met for dinner in 2004.
Tesla boss Elon Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos have been fighting publicly for years, but not many know the two once met for a friendly dinner in 2004. A photo of the meeting is now going viral on social media – and even caught Elon Musk’s attention, who reacted to that on Twitter.
While Mr. Musk and Mr. Bezos are no rivals in any earthly business – the former made a fortune in electric cars, the latter in e-commerce – the two have similar space ambitions. Jeff Bezos started Blue Origin in 2000, two years before Elon Musk launched Space Exploration Technologies Corporation or SpaceX.
In recent years, Blue Origin and SpaceX have faced opportunities to rent launch platforms, landing patents and more, GeekWire reports. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have occasionally blocked horns over missiles and various space exploration plans.
But in 2004, both companies were still in their infancy. Then Musk and Bezos had one of their few personal interactions when they met for dinner. Even then, things were difficult between the two.
“In fact, I did my best to give good advice, which he largely ignored,” Elon Musk said after the meeting, according to Yahoo News.
A photo of the meeting was shared on Twitter earlier this month and caught Elon Musk’s attention on Sunday. “Wow, hard to believe it was 17 years ago!” he wrote as he reacted to the peak, showing the two billionaires at a table.
Wow, hard to believe it was 17 years ago!
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2021
The photo received thousands of “likes” and comments on the microblogging platform.
“The guy in the back has no idea that he has 2 absolute legends sitting next to him,” a Twitter user wrote.
“While SpaceX vs Blue Origin creates good titles and interesting comparisons / contrasts, they have different goals, and the space is big enough for both. I don’t think they are competitors in the traditional sense,” said another.
Elon Musk briefly overtook Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world in January, before the head of Amazon claimed the title.
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