Bezos is still Florida’s richest, and Blue Origin wants 50 Cape launches a year and new Space Coast pads

Jeff Bezos is not interesting to Old Florida Money because a magazine printed a big number. He is interesting because the same Forbes 400 that ranks him Florida’s richest resident also maps a donor-and-buyer class that writes PAC checks, owns franchises, and assembles barrier-island lots.

On Forbes’ updated ranking of the 400 richest Americans, Bezos is No. 2 overall behind Elon Musk and is again Florida’s No. 1 billionaire; his net worth went from $241 billion last year to $378 billion this year, according to Forbes (Action News Jax). Forbes figured the list on Sept. 4 share prices. It took a record $4.4 billion to make it, the 400 are worth a combined $8 trillion, up from $6.6 trillion in 2025, and Musk’s estimated $908 billion is $530 billion more than Bezos (Forbes Australia). Forbes’ real-time mark for Bezos was $369.8B as of Oct. 18, No. 2 in the world, with his residence listed as Miami; Forbes estimates Blue Origin is worth $130 billion, and Bezos owns 8% of Amazon and owns The Washington Post (Forbes).

His Florida business has a decision in front of it. Blue Origin’s FAA license allows up to 12 New Glenn launches a year from Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station; the company has proposed more, and under a draft environmental assessment the FAA would modify the license to allow up to 50 a year, with static engine tests, ocean platform landings of the first stage and fairing recovery. Comments are due Oct. 30, and a virtual public meeting is set for Thursday, Oct. 22, from 6 to 8 p.m. ET (FAA). SpaceNews reports the draft was released Sept. 29 as Blue Origin recovers from a May pad explosion (SpaceNews via AIAA).

On Friday, Oct. 16, Blue Origin said it would go bigger in Florida. Its senior vice president of operations, Ian Richardson, wrote that its infrastructure is “designed to support multiple flights per week by the end of the decade,” and the company said it will add New Glenn launch and landing pads on the Space Coast, at locations it did not disclose, and spend $330 million on a 1.37-million-square-foot Rocket Park expansion, due by summer 2027, that could build up to 150 upper stages a year (Reuters via KFGO; Spaceflight Now). “Blue Origin has invested more than $3 billion in facilities and infrastructure across the state,” Richardson said, and “More than 5,000 employees and 500 Florida suppliers support our work today” (Spaceflight Now; Reuters via KFGO). When New Glenn flies again is disputed: Reuters says it is expected to return to flight early next year, while Bezos said in an Oct. 7 Fox News interview that the company was pushing to fly again before year’s end, as Spaceflight Now and New Space Economy report it (Reuters via KFGO; Spaceflight Now; New Space Economy).

Your stake: if you live, work or own property under the Space Coast launch path, the FAA’s decision sets how often New Glenn can fly from Cape Canaveral, from 12 to as many as 50 times a year, and the public meeting and comment period are open now (FAA). If you work in or sell to the Space Coast’s aerospace economy, Blue Origin says 5,000 employees and 500 Florida suppliers support its work, and it plans more pads and a bigger plant here (Spaceflight Now). No cited figure supports a dollar amount for readers, so we print none.

The money

Bezos announced in November 2023 that he was leaving his long-time home in Seattle for Miami, and his space venture, Blue Origin, operates at Cape Canaveral (Action News Jax). Using Forbes data as of Sept. 21, Stacker ranks the rest of Florida’s top eight: Larry Ellison, $193.5B, Manalapan; Thomas Peterffy, $107.8B, Palm Beach; Ken Griffin, $58.6B, Miami; David Tepper, $28.5B, Palm Beach; Stephen Ross, $21.5B, Palm Beach; Antonio Gracias, $17.1B, Miami; and Shahid Khan, $16.4B, Naples (Action News Jax / Stacker). On the Sept. 15 list itself, Jaguars owner Shad Khan was worth $16.5 billion, No. 8 in Florida and No. 70 overall (Action News Jax).

Palm Beach Daily News’ read of the list puts Peterffy 15th at $107 billion, Griffin 20th at $60.5 billion, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross 56th at $21.5 billion, food and beverage distributor Jude Reyes tied for 90th at $14.3 billion, and President Donald Trump tied for 245th at $7 billion, and counts at least 35 billionaires with strong residential ties to Palm Beach, worth about $641.7 billion combined (Palm Beach Daily News via The Boca Raton Tribune).

The names show up in the money. Griffin, whose Citadel Forbes calls a Miami-based hedge fund firm that manages $77 billion, gave Friends of Byron Donalds PAC $10,000,000 by check on July 17, 2026, which the Tampa Bay Times called the campaign’s largest reported donation (Division of Elections; Forbes; Tampa Bay Times). Peterffy gave the same PAC $1,000,000 on May 2, 2025 and $200,000 on Jan. 13, 2026, and Forbes says he owns more than 560,000 acres, mostly in Florida (Division of Elections; Forbes). Ross founded Related Companies in 1972, established a West Palm Beach firm, Related Ross, in 2024, owns a stake in the Dolphins and the Miami Grand Prix, and in April sold a 1% stake in the Dolphins, the Grand Prix and the Miami Open to Xiaomi cofounder Lin Bin at a $12.5 billion valuation (Forbes). Khan bought the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012 and will open a Four Seasons in Jacksonville in summer 2027 (Forbes). Ellison’s Manalapan assembly is the housing rhyme (see the Ellison story), and Ross’s Related Ross is the company in Palm Beach County’s new convention-hotel deal (see the Ross hotel story). Forbes’ Oct. 18 real-time marks: Ellison $167.2B, Peterffy $96.3B, Griffin $56.9B, Ross $21.5B and Khan $16.3B (Forbes).

How it works

Forbes residency is a capital map. Name the Floridians, then ask where their checks show up: PAC filings, franchise capital stacks, and ocean-to-lake assemblies. A census-style “Florida is growing” greeting is the wrong story. The right story is which already-famous balance sheets now file Florida as home.

Why it matters across Florida

If you underwrite houses in Naples, campaign debt in Tallahassee, or a franchise lease in Jacksonville, these names are your comps and your counterparties. Bezos at No. 1 is the headline; Griffin, Ellison and Khan are the operating cast.

What to watch

The FAA’s virtual public meeting on New Glenn launches, Thursday, Oct. 22, 6 to 8 p.m. ET, and the Oct. 30 comment deadline (FAA). Where Blue Origin puts its new pads, and when New Glenn flies again (Reuters via KFGO; Spaceflight Now). Forbes’ real-time marks against the list (Bezos $369.8B as of Oct. 18). Any new megacheck from the same surnames into 2026 governor or local PACs. Trophy-house closes that cite the same residency cluster. Khan’s Jacksonville Four Seasons, due in summer 2027, as the North Florida rhyme to Tampa’s tax-well fight.

Correction

Correction, Oct. 6, 2026: An earlier version of this story listed “Miami development” as Stephen Ross’s Florida vehicle. Forbes lists Ross’s residence as Palm Beach and says his newer firm, Related Ross, is in West Palm Beach; he founded Related Companies in 1972 and owns a stake in the Miami Dolphins (Forbes).

Correction, Oct. 6, 2026: An earlier version of this story, including its headline, said Axios Miami counted about 49 Forbes 400 members living in Florida. We could not confirm that count in any source we could read and have removed it. Forbes ranks Jeff Bezos No. 1 in Florida and No. 2 in the country (Action News Jax; Forbes Australia).