AP Photo/John Loche
- Jeff Bezos's newspaper The Washington Post decided not to endorse a presidential candidate.
- The billionaire has been less prominent in the election than Elon Musk — but still has much at stake.
- Bezos's Blue Origin is working with NASA and the Pentagon as it plays catch-up with Musk's SpaceX.
The Washington Post's decision not to endorse a presidential candidate has put the political spotlight on its owner, Jeff Bezos, who, like many billionaires, has tried to stay out of it.
Executives from Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin, including CEO Dave Limp, spoke with Donald Trump on Friday, The Associated Press reported. That was the same day the newspaper announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in 36 years.
The New York Times reported that the decision was made by Bezos. The Washington Post Guild said on X that an endorsement of Kamala Harris had already been drafted.
The Post's publisher and CEO, William Lewis, said in a statement that reporting about Bezos' role involvement had been inaccurate.
"As Publisher, I do not believe in presidential endorsements. We are an independent newspaper and should support our readers' ability to make up their own minds," Lewis said.
The decision has sparked the resignations of the Post's editor at large, Robert Kagan, and columnist Michele Norris. Former executive editor Marty Baron said the move was "cowardice, with democracy as its casualty."
"Donald Trump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner Jeff Bezos (and others)," Baron said on X.
Much of the focus in recent months has been on the former Amazon CEO's space entrepreneur rival, Elon Musk. Musk has campaigned extensively for Trump, who said in one campaign speech that "Elon promised" that "we will reach Mars before the end of my term."
Bezos, who has said nothing publicly about either candidate, has much at stake in the election.
Like all private space companies, Blue Origin relies heavily on federal contracts and is competing with SpaceX for government and military projects.
The rocket firm has a $3.4 billion contract with NASA to build a lunar lander for its Artemis V mission, which is due to carry people to the moon for the first time in decades.
Blue Origin was also selected in June as a preferred provider for Pentagon contracts worth $5.6 billion — the first time it's been given the green light to launch national security satellites.
The company is gearing up to launch its biggest rocket yet, the 320-foot New Glen, later this year.
SpaceX's lead
The partially reusable rocket is Blue Origin's answer to SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, but is years behind schedule after a series of setbacks.
That delay has seen SpaceX emerge as the clear leader in the private space race.
The Texas-based company launched its Falcon Heavy rocket nearly 100 times last year and is testing the even-larger Starship rocket that it plans to send to Mars in two years' time.
SpaceX and Blue Origin have frequently clashed over NASA contracts and rocket launches over the years — and Musk's ardent support of the Republican candidate means he could wield significant influence in a potential Trump administration.
The SpaceX founder has been heavily involved in the campaign, donating tens of millions to a Trump campaign PAC and turning out for Trump in crucial battleground states.
Blue Origin did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Amazon attacks
Bezos remains the largest shareholder in Amazon. His near-9% stake is the source of most of his $211 billion net worth, putting him behind only Musk's $277 billion fortune on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Trump took aim at Bezos before he was elected president in 2016 and continued his attacks on Amazon after entering the White House.
In April 2018 Trump said on Twitter that Amazon was "costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy."
The next month The Washington Post reported that Trump had pressured the United States Postal Service to raise the rate it charges Amazon to deliver packages.
Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing unit, argued that the decision to award a $10 billion Department of Defense contract to Microsoft in 2019 was related to Trump exercising undue influence in the procurement process.
Amazon filed a legal challenge to the decision and the "Jedi" contract was scrapped by the Pentagon two years later.