Jeff Bezos Spent $42 Million On A Clock That Ticks Once A Year

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has spent roughly $42 million helping fund the 10,000-Year Clock a massive mechanical timepiece hidden inside a mountain in West Texas that he calls "a symbol for long-term thinking." Speaking on the Lex Fridman Podcast in 2023, Bezos described the clock as "a physical clock of monumental scale" approximately 500 feet tall, built inside a mountain chamber and designed to operate entirely mechanically for 10,000 years with no human intervention. Conceptually, it ticks once a year, chimes once every hundred years, and releases its cuckoo once every thousand years. The project was originally conceived by computer scientist Danny Hillis in the 1980s and is managed by the Long Now Foundation. Bezos not only funded the full-scale version but built it on land he owns in West Texas, choosing the remote location intentionally so that future visitors would have to make a "pilgrimage" to reach it. For Bezos, the clock is about more than engineering. He hopes it develops "the patina of age" over centuries and encourages people to think beyond quarterly earnings cycles and single lifetimes. That same philosophy, he argues, drives his long-term bets from Amazon's early reinvestment strategy to Blue Origin's decades-long mission, and more recently, a reported $100 billion commitment to a robotics-focused investment fund. Image: Shutterstock via Lev Radin. Video contains content from YouTube user @Globalnews. --- #JeffBezos #LongTermThinking #10000YearClock 🌐 Find more market-moving insights at https://www.benzinga.com — your one-stop destination for the latest financial news, data, and expert analysis to stay ahead of the markets. 🖥️ Want the same tools the pros use—without the $10K Bloomberg terminal? Benzinga Edge gives you real-time portfolio alerts, weekly stock picks, and pro-grade research in one command center. 👉 https://bit.ly/4unSKiB ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 📲 Follow us on socials @benzinga 🔔 Subscribe To The Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Benzinga ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ⚠️ Disclaimer: Investing in financial markets carries risk, and there are no guaranteed returns. All information is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as financial advice. Always do your own research and speak with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Only invest what you can afford to lose. Past performance does not guarantee future outcomes.