ZOZO President Maezawa Yusaku is well-known for taking risks.
The Japanese billionaire (worth $2.9 billion according to Forbes) and founder of Zozotown, Japan’s largest online clothing retailer, paid $110.5 million on a 1982 painting titled “Untitled” by Michel Basquiat in 2017, spent an unknown amount to ride around the moon on SpaceX CEO Elon Musks’ “Big Falcon Rocket” scheduled for 2023 and more.
Granted, his company took a hit earlier this year as his plans to sell custom-fit clothing which led to the company downgrading its net profit for the fiscal year ending in March 2019 by more than a third to 17.8 billion yen ($164 million).
Back on February 6th, Maezawa took a break from social media and wrote on Twitter:
本業に集中します。チャレンジは続きます。必ず結果を出します。しばらくツイッターはお休みさせてください🙇♂️
— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) 前澤友作 (@yousuck2020) February 7, 2019
Maezawa wrote, “I need to concentrate on my business. The challenge will continue. I will work on better results. I will be leaving Twitter for awhile”.
Maezawa returned to Twitter after a 2.5 month break.
When Maezawa posted that artwork he owns (an image of Andy Warhold’s “FLOWERS” and Edward Ruscha’s “BONES IN MOTION”) will be exhibited at a Sotheby’s auction on May 16th. This post prompted netizens to write “are you losing money?”.
Maezawa replied to one tweet:
はい、いつもお金ないです。すぐ使ってしまうので😆
— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) 前澤友作 (@yousuck2020) May 4, 2019
Maezawa wrote, “Yes, I don’t always have money. I’ll use it right away”.