From Internet entrepreneur to retail revolutionary to dude with a giant clock? Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and CEO who turned both the publishing and retail industries upside down, is taking his talents to horology. And rockets. And airbags for cellphones.
It's all part of a wide-ranging portfolio of side projects in which Bezos is investing his time and money, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal.
Bezos is the latest in a long line of entrepreneurs, from Howard Hughes to Richard Branson, to use his millions to indulge in more offbeat personal interests. The giant clock for instance? Bezos tells Journal reporter Stu Woo the 200-foot tall clock will last a millennia. Currently being built in the mountains near his home in Texas, "The 10,000 Year Clock" will play a distinct sound every year for the next 10 millennia when completed. Bezos, who is worth an estimated $20 billion, has already spent $42 million on the the project. As crazy as that may sound, the reason behind building the clock is not that far-fetched.
"The reason I'm doing it is that it is a symbol of long-term thinking, and the idea of long-term responsibility," Bezos tells Woo. "We humans have become so technologically sophisticated that in certain ways we're dangerous to ourselves. It's going to be increasingly important over time for humanity to take a longer-term view of its future."
Bezos is also investing in Blue Origin, a private space-travel project, to recover Apollo 11 wreckage from the ocean and even investing in a company that produces handmade glass cups.
For the full story, check out the Wall Street Journal. Tell us what peculiar project you would spend your billions on in the comments.
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