Elon Musk has suggested he may start a company to rival Amazon, escalating a long-running feud with fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos. In a post on X, the platform he owns, Musk wrote: “Maybe we should start a competitor to Amazon.”
Musk's Suggestion Follows AI Bot Complaints
The post came after X users told Musk that AI bots that normally help people make purchases on Amazon had been blocked from doing so. Musk reshared a post from one user complaining about the issue alongside his suggestion, and many replied favourably in the comments.
This is not the first time Musk and Bezos have clashed. Both own spaceflight businesses—SpaceX and Blue Origin respectively—and have publicly challenged each other before. Musk has called Bezos a “copycat,” and Bezos's space company has tried to sue NASA over contracts SpaceX holds. When Musk overtook Bezos as the world’s richest man, he joked in an email to Forbes: “I'm sending a giant statue of the digit '2' to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal.”
What a Musk Amazon Rival Might Look Like
According to Musk’s own AI chatbot Grok, a Musk-made competitor could feature heavy integration of the AI bots that formerly automated people’s shopping on Amazon. It could also be a more slimmed-down version of the online shop, with some X users commenting they were frustrated by Amazon's cluttered experience.
But Musk would face a serious battle. He would have to attract sellers to choose his site over Bezos’s and build vast logistics chains to back it up. With his time and money already spread across several major businesses, trying to rival the world’s fifth largest business would be a serious challenge.
Grok also created a concept of what the Amazon rival might look like, which was “expectedly basic.” The render featured generic products for sale by Tesla as well as a floating holographic version of Grok described as ‘Your AI Shopping Agent’.
Names and Odds
Online speculation has floated names such as ‘XShop’ and ‘Grokazon’ for the potential marketplace. Some X users have pledged to invest in the venture. One referenced Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, saying: “Bezos gave you some competition with Blue Origin. It would only be fair if you tried your hand at online shopping.”
Grok suggested ‘GrokShop’ or ‘XMarket’ as the most likely frontrunners, with less credible suggestions including ‘NotAmazon’ and ‘Bezos Be Gone’.
Despite the online war of words, the likelihood of Musk’s marketplace launching soon seems low. Grok puts the chance at 15-30%, citing the complex logistics of the operation. But Musk has done brash things before—he purchased X, formerly Twitter, in 2022 for $44bn. With Amazon’s market cap at $2.75trn, he would need deep pockets to do damage to Bezos.
