Jeff Bezos is in early discussions to raise $100 billion for a new fund that would acquire manufacturing companies and seek to use AI to drive and speed up automation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
- The Amazon.com founder is holding talks with some of the world’s biggest asset managers to secure funding for the project, WSJ said.ย
- Bezos traveled to the Middle East to discuss the new fund with sovereign wealth representatives in the region a few months ago, according to the report.ย
- Described in investor documents as a “manufacturing transformation vehicle,” the fund aims to target companies in major industries such as chipmaking, defense, and aerospace, the Journal said.ย
- Last year, The New York Times reported that Bezos would serve as co-CEO of a new startup called Project Prometheus focused on AI for engineering and manufacturing computers, automobiles and spacecraft.ย
- Project Prometheus is separately in talks to raise up to $6 billion in funding, WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter. It recently named David Limp, Blue Origin’s CEO, to its board of directors.ย
- Project Prometheus raised $6.2 billion late last year, according to a Financial Times report from February.ย
- Bezos could not be immediately reached for comment. The project’s co-founders, Sherjil Ozair and William Guss, did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on LinkedIn.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City)
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Source:
Reuters
