Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images and Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Jeff Bezos said he loves the idea of becoming friends with Elon Musk as the pair are “very like-minded” in their endeavors.
The Amazon and Blue Origin founder sat down with podcaster Lex Fridman. During the discussion, Bezos said he liked the idea of hanging out with the SpaceX founder.
Bezos was also asked about his thoughts on Musk as a human and a leader in the wide-ranging interview.
“Well, I don’t really know Elon very well,” Bezos said. “I know his public persona but I also know you can’t know anyone by their public persona — it’s impossible. You may think you do, but I guarantee you don’t.”
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He added, “Judging by the results, he must be a very capable leader. There’s no way you can have Tesla and SpaceX without being a capable leader. It’s impossible.”Fridman, who has also interviewed Musk on his show and practiced mixed martial arts with him, told Bezos he hoped the pair would hang out, shake hands, and have a “friendship that would inspire the entirety of humanity.” Bezos responded, “I agree with you and I think with a lot of these endeavors we’re very like-minded. So I think, I’m not saying we’re identical, but we’re very like-minded so I love that idea.” The competitors haven’t exactly been the best of friends over the years, as they founded rival aerospace companies Blue Origin and SpaceX.
Biographer Walter Isaacson recently said that Musk told him he wanted Bezos to “get out of his hot tub and yacht,” and focus his efforts on Blue Origin. Isaacson made the comments during an appearance on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast.Isaacson added that the rivals “don’t hang out together” but that “Musk respects Bezos.”
However, Musk seemed to take a jab at Bezos when he told the Financial Times in 2021 that he “does take himself a bit too seriously.”
He followed up by saying Bezos had “reasonably good engineering aptitude” but “does not seem to be willing to spend mental energy getting into the details of engineering.”
Representatives for Musk and Bezos didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside of normal business hours.
