Blue Origin Made an Attempt to Poach Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX in 2016

Last Tuesday was an eye-opener as the world found out how far Jeff Bezos was willing to go to fill the CEO chair at Blue Origin. The founder once attempted to snatch SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell, but she turned him down.

The information comes after the release of a new book. In 2016, Blue Origin wasn’t doing well while Elon Musk’s company was flourishing. That’s when the founder began his search for a new leader to steer the company in the right direction.

The recruiting team at Amazon attempted to lure Shotwell, but she wasn’t receptive to their offer. At the time, she was in charge of the daily operations at SpaceX. Her stand was that taking the offer wasn’t a good image move.

CEO Search by Blue Origin in 2016

The attempt to poach Gwynne Shotwell wasn’t without reason. Jeff Bezos’s company wasn’t progressing as intended. After several meetings between company execs and the founder, the search became necessary.

That way, the new leadership could help the company address numerous issues causing it to lag. There was a considerable delay with the tourist mission by Blue Origin due to many shortcomings, needed to be solved.

In comparison, SpaceX was miles ahead and doing a fabulous job. Under the leadership of Gwynne Shotwell, it was gaining momentum in space technology and scooping up lucrative contracts. It’s easy to see why Jeff Bezos’s organisation wanted her.

After the failed poaching, Blue Origin hired Bob Smith. He was the president of one of the divisions at Honeywell Aerospace. Now the New Shepard’s latest space tourist mission is set for June 2021. Blue Origin will take the first group of 6 passengers on a tourist mission.