 "The 47-year-old biotech entrepreneur is known for his intense efforts to delay ageing. Image: Instagram")
Reverse-ageing enthusiast Bryan Johnson has said he may shut down or sell his anti-ageing company, Blueprint.
Known for promoting the “Don’t Die” ideology, Johnson has been on an unusual mission to stay young and live longer.
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He now says balancing his company with his personal beliefs has become too much.
Is he stepping away from the business?
Here’s what we know:
Is Bryan Johnson selling his anti-ageing company?
The 47-year-old biotech entrepreneur is known for his intense efforts to delay ageing.
In 2021, he launched Project Blueprint, a personal anti-ageing plan that, according to him, costs $2 million (over Rs 17 crore) each year.
At one point, Johnson even used blood transfusions from his son in a bid to slow ageing. He eventually stopped after six months, saying he found no real benefit.
His company offers various wellness products. But Johnson now feels that managing a business centred on longevity no longer fits with promoting his “Don’t Die” belief system.
In an interview with Wired, he said, “Honestly, I am so close to either shutting it down or selling it,” and mentioned he has “been talking to people about this.”
“I don’t need the money, and it’s a pain-in-the-a** company,” he added.
Johnson said he had only launched the business because friends kept asking about the supplements he was using.
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More Shorts“It just evolved in a way where I was trying to do people a solid. The problem is now people see the business and give me less credibility on the philosophy side,” he said.
“I will not make that trade-off. It is not worth it to me. So yeah, I don’t want it,” he added.
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However, in a recent post on X, Johnson clarified, “The truth is that I need Blueprint. The world needs Blueprint. It is the practical manifestation of Don’t Die.”
He added, “The interview referenced was 3 months ago. Since then, I’ve explored the options.”
Why Bryan Johnson wanted to step away from Blueprint
Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that Blueprint was falling short of its monthly break-even mark by at least $1 million.
Johnson, however, denied that the company was in financial trouble.
“They painted it like we are in some kind of emergency financial situation. That is not the case. We are break-even… We’ve had profitable months, we’ve had loss months,” he said.
He now feels that running a business takes away from his core aim: challenging how people think about death. Johnson says he no longer wants to compromise his philosophical beliefs for commercial success.
Though there has been speculation that financial pressure may be behind his move, Johnson insists his reasons are rooted in values, not money.
He says he is close to deciding whether to sell or shut down Blueprint. His focus, he says, will now shift to turning ‘Don’t Die’ into a full-fledged movement.
Bryan Johnson & the ‘Don’t Die’ ideology
The millionaire on a mission to live forever has made his “Don’t Die” slogan widely known through various ventures, including a Netflix documentary.
In a recent interview with MIT Technology Review, Johnson spoke about his “Don’t Die” initiative and his vision to turn it into a religion.
When asked why he felt the need to start one, he said, “We’re in this new phase where [because of advances in AI] we’re trying to reimagine what it means to be human. It requires imagination and creativity, and open-mindedness, and that’s a big ask. Approaching that conversation as a community or a lifestyle doesn’t carry enough weight or power.”
“Religions have proven, over the past several thousand years, to be the most efficacious form to organise human efforts,” he added.
The entrepreneur explained that the “Don’t Die” religion centres on the idea that the human body is sacred.
“What we’re really trying to say is: Existence is the virtue. Existence is the objective. If someone believes in God, that’s fine. People can be Christian and do this; they can be Muslim and do this. Don’t Die is a yes, and to all groups.”
Notably, at 19, Johnson spent two years in Ecuador as a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
On returning to the US, he completed a BA in International Studies from Brigham Young University in 2003, followed by an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2007.
His breakthrough came after founding Braintree in 2007, a payment processing firm that served clients like Airbnb, Uber, and GitHub.
After acquiring Venmo in 2012, Braintree was sold to PayPal in 2013 for $800 million. Johnson made around $300 million from the deal.
But it was his full-time involvement in Project Blueprint that shifted his public image from entrepreneur to anti-ageing crusader.
His startup offered tools to promote youthfulness through supplements, diagnostics, and food products. His unconventional obsession with reversing ageing has earned him a following of over 4 million across YouTube, Instagram, and X.