Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, two of the wealthiest and most influential people in the world, have been feuding for two decades. Trading places as the world’s richest person, both have often resorted to ridiculing each other publicly. It all started in the early 2000s when Musk and Bezos founded their respective space start-ups, SpaceX and Blue Origin, and became rivals. Over the years, the tug-of-war has only intensified.
You wouldn’t expect any of the two centi-billionaires to be seen endorsing the other person’s rival product by using it. However, a Reddit user recently posted a picture of Bezos’ $500 million sailing yacht Koru in the Starlink sub-Reddit. The photo clearly shows the megayacht fitted with a pair of Starlink antennas.
In case you did’t know, Starlink is a satellite internet constellation project developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. It offers high-speed, low-latency internet access to underserved and remote areas worldwide with the help of thousands of small satellites.
According to its website, the company’s maritime service “delivers connectivity to the vast majority of the Earth’s rivers, lakes, oceans, and seas.” Thanks to all its benefits, the Starlink Maritime service has become very popular amongst commercial vessel operators as well as private yacht owners. Jeff Bezos seems to be one of them.
In the picture, two Starlink antennas can be seen fitted to Bezos’ megayacht. We are unsure how much the Amazon founder is paying for the internet services provided by his rival’s company. When SpaceX launched the Starlink Maritime service in July 2022, the hardware kit with the pair of antennas cost $10,000 alone, while the service was priced at $5,000 per month. Last year, the company reduced prices, with the dish now costing $2500 apiece. Users now also get to choose different service plans; the monthly fee can be as low as $250. Considering the antennas are fitted to a $500 million vessel owned by none other than Jeff Bezos, we expect it to be on the top tier plan, which costs $5000 per month.
The picture can be a major embarrassment for Bezos as he is also building his own satellite internet service, Project Kuiper. Amazon plans to deploy approximately 6,000 satelittes, which will orbit somewhere between 367 to 391 miles above the earth’s surface. The company successfully launched two prototype satellites last year and plans to start launching production satellites in the final quarter of 2024. That means Bezos will have to wait a while longer before he can begin using Project Kuiper’s internet service on Koru.
Till then, he’s at the mercy of Elon Musk’s Starlink high-speed internet. Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sanchez’, have been extensively using the megayacht to enjoy this year’s summer. The vessel has been sailing around the Mediterranean for several months, with the couple also frequently hosting their friends. Obviously, high-speed internet is an absolute must.
