Branson Beats Bezos to Space, but his Stock is Falling ($SPCE )

After Jeff Bezos, Amazon (AMZN) founder and World's richest man, announced plans to launch himself into space as a promotion for his sub-orbital spaceflight company 'Blue Origin', Sir Richard Branson seized the opportunity to one-up his counterpart and promote his own sub-orbital spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic ($SPCE).

Both eccentric billionaires have been pouring billions into what they hope will become a booming industry: "space tourism".

Consumer Mentions show that Branson's plan to launch a week before his competition paid off. Virgin Galactic buzz has rocketed past the competition on a 7-day moving average.

Despite the successful spaceflight, shares of SPCE are trading -12% lower today due to the company announcing plans to sell up to $500 million in common stock.

Bezos and Blue Origin are scheduled to launch approximately 1 week from now. Even if Consumer Buzz manages to surpass the competition, it's questionable if these antics will have any impact on a future business model (if there is one). Only time will tell.