Elon Musk now wants an Amazon rival to challenge Jeff Bezos' empire

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk wants to start a competitor to Amazon. The billionaire made the statement on X, the social media platform he owns.

Musk's statement came in response to an X user who complained that Amazon was blocking Grok bots from placing orders.

"Amazon is blocking Grok @bots from ordering, and Elon's answer is just have your bot buy it somewhere else. One of my Grok bots only handles my Amazon returns, so I'm watching this one closely," said an X user who goes by the name Nick.


Responding to the complaint, Musk wrote, "Maybe we should start a competitor to Amazon."

It is unclear whether Musk was joking or seriously considering the idea.


Nick responded, "I would sign up in a heartbeat !! Fast delivery should be included in your X subscription."

Another X user suggested the name "xshop", while a third suggested that Musk should simply buy Amazon.

Musk is the world's richest person, with a net worth of more than $900 billion, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos follows him with a fortune of around $370 billion.

Musk-Bezos rivalry

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have been rivals for years, with their differences often playing out in public. According to Business Insider, their rivalry dates back to a reportedly contentious dinner in 2004. Both billionaires have since competed in the space industry, with Musk leading SpaceX and Bezos founding Blue Origin.

In 2013, the two clashed over access to a NASA launchpad and patents related to rocket landings. Two years later, Musk took a dig at Bezos on Twitter over rocket-landing technology, arguing that Blue Origin was years behind SpaceX.

Their exchanges have extended beyond space exploration. In 2021, Musk responded to a Washington Post reporter seeking comment for a story about him by saying, "Give my regards to your puppet master."

Bezos, meanwhile, has questioned the feasibility of colonising Mars, a central ambition of SpaceX. Speaking to SpaceNews in 2019, he said, "My friends who want to move to Mars, I say, do me a favor and go live on the top of Mount Everest for a year first, and see if you like it, because it’s a garden paradise compared to Mars."