Bryan Johnson

At 19, Johnson spent two years on a mission in Ecuador. He earned a BA in international studies from Brigham Young University in 2003 and completed Chicago Booth’s Executive MBA in 2007.⁠[1]

His first ventures had mixed results. Booth’s biography describes how, after several attempts and failures, he sold credit-card processing services and identified opportunities in what he viewed as a broken industry. That experience informed his subsequent payments business.⁠[2]

Braintree, which Johnson founded, won Booth’s 2007 New Venture Challenge. A July 2011 university report said the credit-card payments business had raised $34 million from Accel Partners the preceding month.⁠[3]

On August 16, 2012, Venmo announced its acquisition by Braintree as a wholly owned subsidiary, linking merchant payments with person-to-person transfers. Johnson’s connection to Venmo was through the acquiring company, Braintree.⁠[4]

On September 26, 2013, eBayeBayeBay Inc. is an online marketplace company headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar; it started out with person-to-person online auctions and listed on Nasdaq in 1998. As of the end of 2025, it had 135 million active buyers, and its platform’s gross merchandise volume in 2025 was nearly $80 billion.Open the full entry agreed to acquire Braintree for approximately $800 million in cash for its PayPalPayPalPayPal Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: PYPL) is an American digital payments company that operates payment brands including PayPal, Venmo, Braintree, and Xoom, providing online and in-store payments, money transfers, and consumer credit to consumers and merchants worldwide.Open the full entry business, including Venmo. The announcement said Bill Ready would continue leading Braintree. The figure described the corporate transaction, not Johnson’s personal proceeds, and the announcement concerned an agreement.⁠[5]

Booth’s later biography records the completed sale in 2013.⁠[2]

On October 20, 2014, Johnson announced a $100 million personal-capital commitment to OS Fund. It would back scientists and entrepreneurs working on foundational technologies, including genomics, synthetic biology, and machine intelligence, addressing what he saw as a shortage of patient funding.⁠[6]

Kernel was established in 2016. Its stated focus is measuring brain health through hardware, software, and research, with an emphasis on making brain-function data more accessible. Research ambitions are not equivalent to demonstrated cures.⁠[7]

In a 2018 retrospective, he described the period around selling his business as a personal reconstruction: leaving his childhood religion, ending a marriage, and emerging from prolonged depression. He also discussed repeatedly revising A Plan for Humanity as his attention shifted to humanity’s long-term future. These are his own accounts.⁠[8]

On October 13, 2021, he introduced Project Blueprint as an N=1 experiment, tracking his own measurements while adjusting diet, exercise, and sleep. He acknowledged excessive fat loss under a one-meal approach and errors in skin-age measurement. Changes in one person’s measurements do not establish an extension of human lifespan.⁠[9]

According to Johnson’s published case chronology, former partner Taryn Southern sued in 2021 over matters including financial promises. The dispute proceeded to arbitration, including the effect of a release in their separation agreement. His account is a party’s narrative, not a judicial finding establishing every allegation it contains.⁠[10]

Vanity Fair reported an arbitration decision in Johnson’s favor and dismissal of the case in December 2023.⁠[11]

On March 7, 2023, he announced that CTO Ryan Field had taken over as CEO of his company Kernel while he continued as chairman. He connected Kernel Flow’s measurement capabilities with research on depression and cognitive decline, describing prospective applications rather than established clinical outcomes.⁠[12]

In a 2023 interview with Yitiao, he said a fixed routine reduced the strain of food choices and associated discipline with personal well-being.⁠[13]

TIMETIMETIME is an American newsmagazine and media brand founded by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, which published its first issue on March 3, 1923; it is headquartered in New York and known for its Person of the Year selection and the TIME100 list. Since 2018 it has been personally owned by Marc and Lynne Benioff; its current Chief Executive Officer is Jessica Sibley, and its Editor-in-Chief is Sam Jacobs.Open the full entry quoted Nir Barzilai questioning whether simultaneous interventions allow their individual effects to be identified.⁠[14]

On January 1, 2025, Netflix released Chris Smith’s documentary Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever. It follows Johnson’s anti-aging efforts alongside his daily routine, family relationships, and travel to undergo different interventions.⁠[15]

On June 30, 2026, he publicly reported a diagnosis of autoimmune gastritis and discussed further testing and research plans. This was his own health disclosure; it does not establish that a particular lifestyle caused the disease or that proposed experiments had produced a successful treatment.⁠[16]

Discussing his disclosure, the Global Autoimmune Institute noted that the disease may remain undetected for years and involves a complex interaction of genetic, immune, and environmental factors.⁠[17]

As of October 2026, Immortals’ website identifies Johnson and Kate Tolo as co-founders of both Immortals and Blueprint, describing nutrition products, biomarker testing, clinical services, and concierge care. This describes the operator’s business offering, not proof that its products prevent aging.⁠[18]

Don’t Die extends his health project into a social initiative: reducing self-harm, avoiding violence, protecting the planet, and aligning artificial intelligence with the preservation of life.⁠[19]

Brigham Young University: Official website: https://www.byu.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[1]

Chicago Booth: Official website: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[2]

Bryan Johnson: Official website: https://www.bryanjohnson.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[20]

Braintree: Official website: https://www.braintreepayments.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[21]

OS Fund public account: Official account: https://www.linkedin.com/company/os-fund/ (opens in a new window)⁠[22]

Kernel: Official website: https://www.kernel.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[7]

Blueprint: Official website: https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[19]

Immortals: Official website: https://immortals.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[18]

Don’t Die: Official website: https://dontdie.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[20]

X public account: Official account: https://x.com/bryan_johnson (opens in a new window)⁠[23]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry public account: Official account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanrjohnson/ (opens in a new window)⁠[24]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry public account: Official account: https://www.youtube.com/@BryanJohnson (opens in a new window)⁠[25]