Jeff Bezos is playing the long game with Blue Origin (op-ed)

Daniel Biedermann is a partner at NewSpace Capital.

He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights .

Jeff Bezos , the founder and former CEO of Amazon, recently said that Blue Origin , his space technology company, is likely to go public in the coming years.

The announcement has (unsurprisingly) attracted considerable attention, not least because Bezos has spent more than two decades financing the company largely from his personal wealth.

He has invested billions of dollars in developing rockets , spacecraft and other forms of technology, often with very little prospect of an immediate return.

But although Bezos has now raised the possibility of an initial public offering, he has given no firm indication of when one might happen.

He may be right to keep his options open.

Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000.

Because he has financed so much of its development by himself , the company has been able to pursue ambitious engineering projects without the financial pressures that publicly listed businesses typically face.

But developing reusable rockets, manufacturing spacecraft and building the infrastructure needed for future lunar missions requires extraordinary amounts of capital: These projects can take decades to complete, and even the wealthiest investors must think hard about how best to finance them over the long term.

Bezos, then, has good reasons to seek additional sources of investment — particularly as Blue Origin prepares to expand its commercial operations.

An IPO would give Blue Origin the means to raise substantial capital from public investors and reduce its dependence on Bezos's personal wealth.

The company could then use that money to expand manufacturing, develop new technology and compete for a greater share of the growing space market.

Public ownership would also give existing investors the power to sell some of their holdings and could make it easier for Blue Origin to finance acquisitions.