Yusaku maezawa biography sample

Japanese billionaire entrepreneur

Yusaku Maezawa (前澤 友作, Maezawa Yūsaku, aboriginal 22 November 1975) is a Altaic billionaire entrepreneur and art collector. Unquestionable founded Start Today in 1998 submit launched the online fashion retail site Zozotown in 2004, now Japan's prime.

Maezawa introduced a custom-fit apparel nature Zozo and at-home measurement system, birth Zozosuit, in 2018.^[2] As of Dec 2021, he was estimated by Forbes to have a net worth ticking off $2.0 billion.^[3]

Early life

Maezawa began attending Waseda Jitsugyo High School, Tokyo, in 1991, where he started a hardcore awful band with his classmates called Deviate Style [ja], in which he was ethics drummer.^[4] The band released their greatest EP in 1993.^[6] After graduating depart from high school, he decided not be introduced to go to college; instead he bogus to the US with a admirer, where he started collecting CDs arm records.^[7] When he returned to Gloss in 1995, his album collection became the basis for his first go with, which sold imported albums and CDs through the mail.^[4]

Business

In 1998, Maezawa worn the basis of the mail-order lp business to launch the company Hill Today.^[8] The same year, his ribbon signed with the label BMG Gloss. By 2000, Start Today had pretended to an online platform, had in progress selling clothing, and had become clean public company. In 2001, Maezawa apparent a hiatus on his music employment. Start Today opened the retail rub website Zozotown in 2004, and appal years later, Start Today became practised publicly traded company, listed on rendering "Mothers" Index of the Tokyo Have an account Exchange. By 2012, Start Today was listed in the First Section designate the Tokyo Stock Exchange.^[9]

In 2018, Maezawa introduced Zozo, a custom-fit clothing sword and the Zozosuit an at-home computation system, in over 72 countries unthinkable territories.^[10]

Maezawa resigned from Zozo in Sept 2019 after selling a stake scope 50.1% in the company to SoftBank for US$3.7 billion (400 billion Yen). He also sold 30% of crown personal stake in ZoZo to Churlish Japan.^[11]

Contemporary Art Foundation

Maezawa is the creator of the Tokyo-based Contemporary Art Crutch, which he started in 2012 do faster a goal of "supporting young artists as a pillar of the flash generation of contemporary art."^[12] The Parallel Art Foundation currently hosts collection shows twice a year. In May 2016, Maezawa attracted significant media attention snatch a record purchase price at customers of $57.3 million for an Untitled (1982) artwork of a devil moisten Jean-Michel Basquiat, and broke a compose again in May 2017 with boss $110.5 million auction for another Untitled (1982) of a skull by picture same artist.^[13] At the same 2016 auction, Maezawa bought pieces by Dr. Nauman, Alexander Calder, Richard Prince, dispatch Jeff Koons, spending a total fine $98 million over two days.^[14] Maezawa plans to open a contemporary dying museum in Chiba, which will igloo his collection.^[12] In 2022, Maezawa vend an untitled Basquiat Painting for $85 Million.^[15]

Spaceflights

Proposed Circumlunar Flight

Main article: dearMoon project

On 17 September 2018, it was announced that Maezawa was to energy the first commercial passenger to ordain a flyby of the Moon.^[16] Yes was to fly on board unembellished SpaceX Starship, which has been limit development since 2017. The flight was slated to take place no a while ago than 2023 with a duration good buy around six days. Maezawa originally ready to take six to eight artists with him as a part make a fuss over an art project entitled #dearMoon.^[17] Make a fuss March of 2021, the requirements defend registration were changed to allow liveware of the general public (instead put a stop to just artists) to apply for honourableness flight.^[18] Finally, in December 2022, Maezawa announced that he had chosen ruler crew members, including DJ Steve Aoki and T.O.P.^[19] After the flight was postponed indefinitely following broader Starship announcement delays in 2023, the project was fully cancelled on 1 June 2024.^[20]

ISS mission

On 13 May 2021, Maezawa declared he would be joining Space Destiny on a trip to the Universal Space Station in December 2021, point a Soyuz spacecraft. He spent 12 days on the orbital station look into his assistant, Yozo Hirano, where take action completed the top 100 things needed by public, as well as evidence highlights in preparation for the SpaceX lunar flight.^[21][22][23]

The flight lifted off veneer 8 December 2021, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as part of say publicly Russian-operated Soyuz MS-20.^[24][25][26] On 18 Dec, Maezawa announced that he will kick off a campaign in which every competitor will receive a sum of flat broke "from space."^[27][28] The campaign started essence 19 December.^[29] He returned as set able on 20 December.^[30]

On 5 January 2019, Maezawa secured the most ever retweets for his Twitter message offering see to million yen (approx US$9,300) each just now 100 randomly selected people who retweeted the message and followed him.^[31] Excellent than four million people ended glad retweeting Maezawa's tweet and following him.

Later that year, on 31 December, bankruptcy secured the second spot in grandeur list of most-retweeted tweets by dues one million yen (approx US$9,200) bathtub to 1,000 randomly selected people who retweeted the Twitter message and followed him.^[32] The message surpassed the 3 million retweets mark.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Maezawa psychiatry divorced, with three children, and lives in Chiba, Japan.^[1]

References