Billionaires vs. time: The tech moguls pouring fortunes into longevity research

As technology evolves, so does the idea of immortality, with tech billionaires increasingly focusing on longevity. Christopher Wareham, a bioethicist at Utrecht University, told Financial Times, "The longer you’re around, the more your wealth compounds. And the wealthier you are, the more political influence you have."

Below are eight prominent tech leaders investing in the pursuit of eternal youth.

Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison, Oracle founder and world's second richest man. Photo by Reuters

Ellison, the world’s second-richest man with a fortune of $331 billion, has long been fascinated by mortality. He follows a pescatarian diet, avoids alcohol and drugs, and stays active with daily exercise. Bryan Johnson, a 48-year-old tech founder who invests $2 million a year in his own anti-aging efforts, once commented on Ellison’s appearance. "Ellison, now 80, is doing a good job managing biological aging," Johnson wrote in a 2024 X post.

Mortality has perplexed the Oracle founder for decades. His biological mother left the family when he was a child, and the death of his adoptive mother during his time in college led him to pursue longevity research, Fortune reported. "Death has never made any sense to me," Ellison told biographer Mike Wilson. "How can a person be there and then just vanish, just not be there?"

In 1997, Ellison founded the Ellison Medical Foundation, which awarded $430 million in biomedical research grants on aging before ceasing new funding in 2013. He has also donated millions to medical causes, including $200 million to a USC cancer center in 2016, which was later renamed the Ellison Institute of Technology. With AI, the 81-year-old tech mogul now hopes to further advance longevity research and secure what he believes will be his greatest legacy.

Sam Altman

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has invested $180 million into Retro Biosciences, a startup aiming to extend healthy lifespans by a decade. "It’s a lot. I basically just took all my liquid net worth and put it into these two companies," Altman told MIT Technology Review in 2021, referring to Retro and Helion Energy, a fusion power startup.

Altman, 40, whose net worth Forbes estimates at $2.2 billion due to ChatGPT’s success, believes longevity research requires an "OpenAI-type effort." Retro Biosciences, which plans to launch trials for drugs targeting diseases like Alzheimer’s, recently trained a model with the AI tool to transform regular cells into stem cells, according to TechCrunch.

Peter Thiel

PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel’s investment in longevity spans nearly a dozen companies, including Unity Biotechnology, which is developing drugs to target aging cells, Business Insider reported. Thiel, 58, has donated millions, including $7 million to the Methuselah Foundation, which focuses on regenerative medicine. He has also signed up for cryonics, the freezing of human bodies, in hopes of being revived in the future.

"I don’t necessarily expect it to work, but I think it’s the sort of thing we’re supposed to try to do," Thiel said in a 2023 podcast, according to the New York Post.

Bryan Johnson

Biotech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson. Photo from Instagram

Biotech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson has invested $2 million annually into his anti-aging program, Project Blueprint. "By doing Blueprint, one of the key objectives is to achieve the lowest possible biological age," he said in his Netflix documentary released in January.

Johnson appears to be reversing, or at least halting, the aging process through an intense regimen of exercise, diet, and daily supplements, guided by physician Oliver Zolman, who refers to himself as a "rejuvenation doctor." His daily routine starts at 5 a.m. with a mouthful of supplements, including lycopene, metformin, turmeric, zinc, and others. He also follows a vegan diet, consuming around 1,977 calories a day. He said that his health regimen has "reversed my biological age by 5.1 years."

Now at 48, he claims to have the heart of a 37-year-old, the skin of a 28-year-old, and the lungs of a young adult.

Larry Page

In 2013, Google co-founder Larry Page launched Calico Labs, a company focused on extending the human lifespan. Calico’s mission is ambitious: to find breakthroughs that could rival the transformative impact of the transistor. David Botstein, Calico’s chief scientific officer, told MIT Technology Review that Calico is exactly what Google intended: a Bell Labs working on fundamental questions, with the best people, the best technology, and the most money.

"It’s a hard problem; it’s an unmet need; it is exactly what Larry Page thinks it is. It’s something to which no one is really in a position to pay enough attention, until maybe us."

In 2014, the company partnered with biopharmaceutical giant AbbVie to develop therapies for age-related conditions. More recently, Calico has been credited as the precursor to Altos Labs, a cell-rejuvenation startup that reportedly counts Bezos as an investor.

Sergey Brin

In 2008, Google co-founder Sergey Brin revealed in a blog post that he had a genetic mutation making him more susceptible to Parkinson’s disease. Over the years, Brin, 52, has invested more than $1 billion in research on the disease, Forbes reported. He has also led initiatives aimed at halting the aging process, including Calico Labs, and has invested over $1 billion in the "longevity lab," CNBC reported.

Nicole Shanahan, Brin’s girlfriend, shared at an event that Brin called her after reading a book stating that he and his Google co-founder Page would die before the company "solves death." At the event, Brin gave the crowd an ambiguous nod and said, "Yes, I was singled out for death; no, I’m not actually planning to die."

Mark Zuckerberg

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (middle) during a training session. Photo courtesy of Zuckerberg's Instagram

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, along with his wife Priscilla Chan, co-founded the Breakthrough Prize, which funds scientific advances, including anti-aging research. Zuckerberg has also committed millions to curing infectious diseases through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. "By the time we get to the end of this century, it will be pretty normal for people to live past 100," Zuckerberg said in 2016.

His personal regimen includes jiu-jitsu and CrossFit, and he said that fighting in the morning is "better than caffeine" for his energy levels. He and Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk even engaged in verbal sparring about a possible UFC-style cage match to showcase their physical prowess, though it has yet to happen, according to Benzinga.

Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos is reportedly an investor in Altos Labs, a biotech company focused on cellular rejuvenation to reverse aging-related diseases. Beyond investments, Bezos maintains a strict fitness regimen. His wife, Lauren Sanchez, describes him as a "monster" in the gym, noting his transformation from Amazon’s lean founder to a muscular powerhouse.

One of Amazon’s founder’s fitness secrets is personal trainer Wes Okerson, renowned for sculpting the bodies of celebrities like Tom Cruise and Gerard Butler, Sanchez previously told The Wall Street Journal.

In addition, Bezos, 61, has made significant changes to his dietary habits and has emphasized the importance of sleep. "Eight hours of sleep makes a big difference for me. I think better, I have more energy, my mood is better," he said.