Billionaire Bryan Johnson Has Burned $4 Million Chasing Youth and Virility

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Billionaire biohacker Bryan Johnson says he spends $2 million a year on his publicly documented quest to retain and regain his youth.

“It’s probably $3 million to $4 million at this point,” Johnson told Diary of a CEO YouTube and podcast host Steven Bartlett—adding that the money has primarily been spent on scientific research and measurement protocols.

Yes, penis rejuvenation therapy came up in the conversation, and Bartlett paraphrased Johnson in the video title as saying, “I Have The Erection Of An 18 Year Old!”

Much of the conversation focused on the value of high quality sleep and how Johnson achieved six months of “perfect sleep”—getting “the best sleep score in history” according to his biometric wearable from Whoop.

“What I was trying to do was something akin to a four-minute mile or Amelia Earhart flying a plane across the Atlantic or someone climbing Everest,” he said. “People didn’t think was possible, and then once one person demonstrates it, it opens it up for everyone else, because if I can do it everyone else knows they can do it too.”

“High quality sleep is achievable,” Johnson asserted. “And that if you do that, it could potentially give you the best cognitive and emotional performance of your life.”

Johnson recounted that he began his anti-aging journey in 2021 with the launch of the Blueprint Project, with which he aims to reduce biological age by enhancing the health and function of his organs. The project involves meticulous tracking of biomarkers and the impact of tailored health changes, including ingesting more than 100 supplements daily.

Johnson is not alone in the quest for the fountain of youth. Wealthy people are investing heavily in rejuvenation businesses and health clinics, hoping to stave off the grim reaper. Joining Johnson on the journey is Kate Tolo, a former employee of the neuroscience firm Kernel, which Johnson founded in 2016.

“It was a fun couple of months,” Johnson said. “We are [exploring] gene therapy, I published a book, and Kate completed her 90 days as the first female on Blueprint doing the full program.”

Tolo emphasized that despite data and personal feelings, she always compared who takes better care of her needs according to the Blueprint: Kate of the present or Kate of the past.

“I would argue that, even if it’s only a marginal improvement, it’s worth taking this step toward looking after oneself just a little bit better,” Tolo said.

She said she immediately sought out Johnson when she heard him talking about the concept of “merging with AI.”

“I’d spent the year learning about AI coming to mainstream and how the human species is going to deal with this,” she told Bartlett. “I felt very strongly the only way to [move] forward as a species would be to latch ourselves on to AI and to merge with AI in some way.”

In addition to introducing the first female to complete the program, Johnson pointed out that he made the recipes and resources for the Blueprint freely available to the public, created a Blueprint product line, and is now fine-tuning Tolo’s Blueprint to fit her specific needs.

While diet, sleep, and exercise have helped Johnson’s plan, he said it’s not enough.

“If we really are trying to punch through the ceiling, you can only do so much with diet, sleep, and exercise,” Johnson said. “We’ve kind of mastered those things. So now we’re trying to level up on more powerful therapies.”

In August, Johnson—who founded the online payment provider Braintree in 2007—made waves after announcing he was using shockwave treatment on his genitals. At the time, Johnson said his goal was to be able to remain erect for nearly four hours per night.

In response to Johnson’s post on Twitter, Elon Musk responded with a vomit emoji, emphasizing in another tweet that human lifespans should be limited. In response to such criticism of his efforts, Johnson claims not to mind it—even going as far as to say he loves it.

“It’s really beyond my comprehension,” he said. “I don’t know. I mean, maybe in other times in my life, maybe I would have been more sensitive to it,” Johnson said, adding that he appreciates the effort people put into insulting him.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.