Deep in the rock beneath the Sierra Diablo mountains in Texas, Jeff Bezos is building a $42m clock. Standing 200ft tall, it will ring a different sequence of chimes each day for 10,000 years. A century hand will tick over every 100 years and a cuckoo will greet each millennium.
It is, Amazon’s founder says, “a symbol, an icon for long-term thinking”. After months of thought, Mr Bezos this week announced a $250m investment many found more eccentric: he is buying a newspaper.
His acquisition of The Washington Post sent journalists scurrying to decode the symbolism. The pioneer of e-commerce is arguably America’s most successful internet entrepreneur, worth $25bn. What could the Kindle’s inventor see in a print-heavy business with shrinking revenues, staffing and influence?