By
Chimamanda U. Martha
March 13th, 2024
1000 randomly selected users who will retweet Yusaku Maezawa’s post may become lucky and win money.
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has decided to check if money can make people happy in this world. To test that, the Japanese billionaire gives away $9 million (or 1 billion yen) to his Twitter followers. 1000 randomly selected users who retweet the post below may become lucky.
ZOZOTOWN新春セールが史上最速で取扱高100億円を先ほど突破！！日頃の感謝を込め、僕個人から100名様に100万円【総額1億円のお年玉】を現金でプレゼントします。応募方法は、僕をフォローいただいた上、このツイートをRTするだけ。受付は1/7まで。当選者には僕から直接DMします！ #月に行くならお年玉 pic.twitter.com/cKQfPPbOI3
— 前澤友作@MZDAO (@yousuck2020) January 5, 2019
4.8 million users have already retweeted the post.
Yusaku Maezawa said in his announcement on YouTube:
“It’s a serious social experiment.”
Further, he added he hopes to attract interest from sociologists and economists.
The Japanese billionaire will track the impact money has on people by conducting surveys and questionnaires. Maezawa is encouraging followers to spend money in any way they like.
The Story of Japanese Billionaire
Yusaku Maezawa is one of the richest people in Japan. Being the billionaire founder and CEO of online fashion retailer Zozotown, he has a net worth of $2 billion.
Japanese billionaire started his way to success from the very bottom. In the 1990s, he was selling CDs and LPs of his favorite musicians by mail from home in Tokyo. Later, this idea of selling foreign music CDs through mail encouraged Yusaku to come up with similar business plans.
In 1998, Maezawa set up a company Start Today. In 2000, the company started operating as an online platform. Later, in 2004, Start Today opened the retail clothing website Zozotown that became one of the largest online fashion retail websites in Japan. Besides, Maezawa launched his own brands Zozo and Zozosuit. The brands are popular with customers in more than 72 countries.
It is notable that Maezawa is known not only due to his business. He will also be the first commercial passenger to fly around the Moon with a SpaceX vehicle. The flight will take place in 2023 and last about 6 days. For the flight, the billionaire has started a project called ‘Dear Moon.’ Within the project, different celebrities will fly with him and inspire musicians, painters, designers all over the world.
Japanese Billionaire Gives away $9 Million to Develop His Theory
The experiment with the money-happiness relationship is not the first for Maezawa. In January 2019, he pulled the same stunt and promised 100 million yen (about $914,000) to 100 Twitter users. They ended up with a bit more than $9,000 each.
Earlier, Maezawa has developed the idea of basic income or the theory of providing a periodic no-strings-attached payment to all citizens. The idea received support from some political circles. Moreover, it is backed by Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
Toshihiro Nagahama, the senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, commented:
“Basic means a regular minimum amount offering a sense of security, what Maezawa is offering is totally different.”
However, Maezawa will not give up his idea. As he explained, he has money and time opportunities to develop his theory and will do his best to promote it in Japan.