CEO Elon Musk Says Tesla, SpaceX Does Not Stifle Competition: '...If There Was A Button I Could Press That Would Delete Blue Origin, I Wouldn't'

The billionaire CEO at the helm of EV giant Tesla Inc TSLA and rocket manufacturing company SpaceX on Wednesday denied that his companies have ‘monopolized’ the market.

What Happened: Speaking at a  New York Times DealBook Summit, Elon Musk clarified that none of his companies have done anything to ‘stifle’ competition. On the other hand, Tesla and SpaceX have only aided competition, the CEO said.

Responding to a question on the increasing reliance on Musk’s products and companies around the globe owing to their technological excellence and the subsequent power he wields, Musk said that it is only because of the quality of their products. “How is it a bad thing to make better products than other companies?,” the CEO posed with a laugh.

Instead, Tesla and SpaceX have been aiding competition, Musk said. While Tesla has made all it patents open source and opened its supercharger network to rivals, SpaceX does not use patents, Musk said.

Speaking about Jeff Bezos‘ attempts to send rockets to space, Musk said, “I hope he does.” The CEO added that he agreed with many of the rival billionaire’s motivations and is glad he chose to invest in rockets.

“Let me put it this way, if there was a button I could press that would delete Blue Origin, I wouldn’t press it,” Musk said.

Why It Matters: Musk has often reiterated the lack of competition in his rocket manufacturing company and expressed its need. As per Musk, competition would be better for making life multi-planetary, one of his key visions for space travel.

SpaceX is currently dominating the space travel segment. The company is on track to deliver 1,600 tons of payload to orbit by the end of the year, Musk said in October. Meanwhile, the remaining entirety of the world will deliver merely about 400 tons, making SpaceX account for delivering about 80% of the world's payload to space.

With regards to Musk’s EV company, the company’s major competitor in producing and delivering electrified vehicles is Chinese automaker BYD Co Ltd. While BYD also makes hybrids, Tesla makes only battery electric vehicles.

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