When the Japanese fashion tycoon Yusaka Maezawa returned to earth in December in a Russian Soyuz space capsule – landing in a remote area of Kazakhstan – it capped a banner year for private space travel, following breakthroughs from fellow billionaires Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Maezawa, 46, who travelled with his personal assistant, spent most of the 12-day trip as “a paying guest” on the International Space Station – entertaining his social-media followers by demonstrating how to pee and make tea in zero gravity, and bemoaning his shortage of clean underwear. It was an expensive jaunt, costing $66m. But he views it as just “a practice run”, says Al-Jazeera. In 2023, he plans a “trip around the moon” on Elon Musk’s SpaceX with eight artists in tow.
A one-man national lottery
A born stuntman, who made his money founding the online fashion retailer Zozotown (which was sold to SoftBank subsidiary Yahoo Japan for $2.3bn in 2019), Maezawa is a household name in Japan, not least because of his penchant for doling out “cash giveaways” to his Twitter followers. Three years ago, he notched up a record for the most ever retweets after offering a million yen each to randomly selected people who retweeted the message and followed him – in essence becoming a one-man national lottery in exchange for four million followers.
Still, it was Maezawa’s passion for contemporary art that put him on the international stage, says the Financial Times. During one buying spree in New York in 2017, he caused a sensation by snapping up a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting for more than $110m – setting a record auction price for an American artist. Maezawa, who was once in a punk band, later observed that he felt an affinity with the late “enfant terrible” of US art who, like him, “rose up from the streets”.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Maezawa has been “rocking” the Japanese business world for decades, says The Daily Beast. Born in the Chiba prefecture in 1975, he was educated at the renowned Waseda Jitugyo High school, but rejected the conventional path to life as a white-collar “salaryman” “after seeing all those tired faces on my morning commutes”. Instead, he travelled to the US and began collecting CDs and records – a hobby that became the basis of his first business. On returning to Japan in 1995, Maezawa started a mail-order music import business, Start Today, running it in tandem with his own recording career. But the company’s rapid growth after adding an online clothes line in the early Noughties became all pre-occupying. After severing the music arm in 2007, Start Today listed in Tokyo and, by 2010, had reinvented itself as a pioneering “virtual shopping mall”, says the FT. The cash poured in. By 2017, the renamed Zozotown had expanded to 7,300 brands.
Davos in space
Maezawa made his mark as an innovator, introducing “the Zozosuit” – a spandex polka-dot bodysuit designed to gauge the wearer’s body shape to tackle the perennial online problem of how you “try before you buy”. It was a flop: in 2018 Zozo reported a 20% fall in profits amid analyst predictions of slowing growth. Some might count Maezawa fortunate that SoftBank’s ambition to take on Amazon enabled him to cash in Zozo the following year.
Now fully focused on his new role as a space pioneer, Maezawa is currently sorting through “a million” applications to select his fellow travellers for the SpaceX moon trip, says The Japan Times. He may yet ditch the artists for more lofty companions. “You begin to think about world leaders getting together in space…”
-
Private school fees soar and VAT threat looms – what does it mean for you?Rising private school fees could see more than one in five parents pull their children out of their current school. Before you remortgage, move house or look to grandparents for help, here’s what you need to know.
-
Best and worst UK banks for online banking revealedWhen it comes to keeping your money safe, not all banks are equal. We reveal the best and worst banks for online banking when it comes to protecting your money from scams
-
Should your business invest in a VoIP phone service?Here's what you need to know about VOIP (voice over IP) services before landlines go digital in 2025.
-
The end of China’s boomLike the US, China too got fat on fake money. Now, China's doom is not far away.
-
The many frauds of Dozy Mmobuosi, failed Sheffield United ownerProfile Dozy Mmobuosi was a big-hitter with a fintech empire when he stepped in to rescue a failing Yorkshire football club. But he was not quite the saviour he seemed.
-
What is the future of Royal Mail in the UK?With fewer of us sending letters and parcels, the Royal Mail is finding dealing with the nation’s post is an increasingly unprofitable and costly business.
-
What's the secret of Manolo Blahnik's success?Fashion maestro Manolo Blahnik shows little sign of slowing down at 81, and his company notched up a record financial year in 2022. What is the secret of his success?
-
Michelle Mone's "tough year of pain"Michelle Mone liked to portray herself as a working-class heroine who worked her way to the top through grit and determination. But her pedestal is built on sand.
-
Trevor Milton, the Elon Musk wannabe, is jailed for fraudThe former CEO of Nikola, Trevor Milton, has been found guilty of lying about the development of the company's electric trucks.
-
Directors should think twice before waiving limited liabilityShould small-business directors ever provide a personal guarantee in return for bank finance?
