Jeff Bezos

Science • Space
SpaceX wins $2.9 billion contract to build moon lander for NASA's Artemis program
SpaceX wins $2.9 billion contract to build moon lander for NASA's Artemis program
Credit: SpaceX

After evaluating three commercial designs for new Artemis moon landers, NASA on Friday awarded a single $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX, rejecting more expensive proposals from a team led by Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and another led by Dynetics.

The contract will cover one unpiloted test flight from lunar orbit down to the surface and back again, and one piloted flight carrying two astronauts launched to the moon in a Lockheed Martin Orion capsule atop NASA's Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket.

Arts, Entertainment, Culture • Celebrities & Public Figures
Billionaire MacKenzie Scott has remarried
Billionaire MacKenzie Scott has remarried
Credit: Courtesy of The Giving Pledge

The writer MacKenzie Scott has married again. Her husband is Dan Jewett, a teacher from Seattle. The couple made the marriage public in a letter to the Giving Pledge organization. MacKenzie Scott was married to Jeff Bezos for 25 years, one of the first employees of his Amazon company, during which time she helped build the mail-order company. In 2019, the couple separated.

With the divorce, Scott received four percent of Amazon shares, then worth about $38 billion. She announced she would donate most of the fortune to charity.

Business
Jeff Bezos to step down as Amazon CEO in Q3 of 2021
Jeff Bezos to step down as Amazon CEO in Q3 of 2021
Credit: Los Angeles Air Force Base Space and Missile System Center, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Amazon has announced that its founder Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO during the third quarter of 2021 and will be replaced by Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Andy Jassy. Bezos will take on the role of executive chairman of Amazon’s board.

“I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO,” Bezos wrote in a letter to employees obtained by CNBC. “In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives."

Lifestyle
Elon Musk becomes world's richest person as wealth tops $185bn
Musk speaks to the news media during a news conference at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the successful liftoff of the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A.
Musk speaks to the news media during a news conference at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the successful liftoff of the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A. Credit: NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur was pushed into the top slot after Tesla's share price increased on Thursday.

He takes the top spot from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who had held it since 2017.

Business • Markets
Jeff Bezos sells Amazon stock worth over $3 billion
Jeff Bezos sells Amazon stock worth over $3 billion
Credit: Seattle City Council from Seattle / via Wikimedia Commons

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos sold shares in his company worth more than $3.0 billion this week. This was revealed on Wednesday from mandatory notifications to the US stock exchange supervisory authority SEC. According to SEC data, Bezos has already sold Amazon shares worth more than $10.2 billion this year.

Business • Consumer & Service
Protesters set up a guillotine outside Jeff Bezos' mansion and demanded higher wages for Amazon workers
Protesters set up a guillotine outside Jeff Bezos' mansion and demanded higher wages for Amazon workers
Credit: Twitter (Reproduction)

Demonstrators gathered outside Jeff Bezos' mansion Thursday and constructed a guillotine outside his front door to protest Amazon workers' wages. The protest came the day after Bezos became the wealthiest person in history, according to Forbes, with a net worth surpassed $200 billion.

Protesters, led by former warehouse worker and outspoken Amazon critic Christian Smalls, called on the company to raise its minimum wage to $30 per hour.

Business • Economy
Jeff Bezos' net worth surpasses $200b
Jeff Bezos at Amazon Spheres Grand Opening in Seattle, 2018
Jeff Bezos at Amazon Spheres Grand Opening in Seattle, 2018 Credit: Seattle City Council from Seattle / Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' net worth has reached approx. $202 billion, a $87 billion increase since January. Amazon's stock has seen a 25%-rise since June and 86%-rise since the start of the year, boosted mostly by online shopping during the pandemic.

Regional News • Americas • United States
US House Antitrust Subcommittee will question tech CEOs over dominance of online platform
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Credit: Anthony Quintano (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)

The chief executives Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Tim Cook (Facebook) and Sundar Pichai (Google) will be questioned today by the United States House Antitrust Subcommittee that currently investigates the into market dominance of online platforms.

Rep. David Cicilline, chairman of the subcommittee has stated that "these platforms have been allowed to run wild and free from really any constraints" adding that the committee has to clarify "what the impacts are of the lack of competition in the digital marketplace".