Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos auctioned off a seat in his Blue Origin New Shephard rocket that will go to space.
The winning bid came from billionaire Ken Griffin, the founder of the Citadel hedge fund, who will donate the spot to a New York City school teacher.
The $8million of proceeds went to the Robin Hood Foundation, a charity fighting poverty in New York City.
Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez watched stars including John Legend at the Robin Hood Benefit 2022 gala in New York City on Monday night, as celebrities raised more than $120 million for New Yorkers struggling with poverty.
The Amazon CEO raised $8million at the fundraising event by auctioning off another seat in his Blue Origin New Shephard rocket that will go to space.
The winning bid came from billionaire Ken Griffin, the founder of the Citadel hedge fund, who will donate the spot to a New York City school teacher, Christie's auctioneer Lydia Fenet told Bloomberg.
The teacher will be selected by the charity Robin Hood Foundation and another teacher from the city will also be on the flight. The pair are yet to be chosen.
The proceeds of Griffin's bid, which was placed by Citadel Chief Technology Officer Umesh Subramanian on behalf of the billionaire as he did not attend the auction, went to the Robin Hood Foundation - a charity fighting poverty in New York City.
Last year, the winning bid for a seat on Blue Origin's first crewed mission, with Bezos, Mark Bezos and Wally Funk onboard, was made by crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun for $28 million.
But due to a scheduling issue, Sun flew on a later flight and gave his seat to 18-year-old Oliver Daemon, the son of a Dutch financier.
Bezos attended the event on Monday night at Manhattan's Javits Center where $126 million was raised for the foundation in total, including $10 million from the Bezos Family Foundation.
The Amazon and Blue Origin CEO, whose mother Jacklyn is on the Robin Hood Foundation's board of directors, was joined by his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.
The event also featured performances from figures such as John Mulaney and John Legend, who appeared to make the most of their time in the spotlight.
Blue Origin was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who travelled to the edge of space on the first crewed flight of the New Shepard on July 20.
He was joined by brother Mark, Oliver Daemen, 18, the youngest person ever to fly to space, and aviation pioneer Wally Funk, 82, at the time the oldest person in space.
Since that inaugural flight, Blue Origin have sent New Shepard on its 11 minute hop to the edge of space a total of four times - including taking Star Trek actor, William Shatner, to space - making him the oldest space travel at 90.
After years of promise, the space tourism sector is finally taking off, with Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic the main suborbital players, and SpaceX the only orbital launch.
More photos below.
Comments
Post a Comment