Twitter/Elon Musk
One question that many people following SpaceX’s big lunar mission announcement are wondering is just what is the net worth of the first private citizen passenger, Yusaku Maezawa. Elon Musk said during the press conference that Maezawa put down a “significant deposit” for a chance to go on the trip, and this will help pay for the development of the BFR. Here is what we know about Yusaku Maezawa’s net worth.
Yusaku Maezawa is a Japanese billionaire. According to Forbes, his net worth is approximately $2.9 billion as of September 2018. Most of his net worth comes from founding Japan’s largest online fashion mall, Zozotown. He’s #18 on Forbe’s list of Japan’s 50 Richest in 2018, and he’s #822 out of all billionaires in 2018.
The parent firm of Zozotown is Start Today. It’s on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Maezawa owns about 38 percent of the company.
Kicked off #ZOZO100K and #ZOZOREVOLUTION yesterday at the press conference. Thank you to everyone for the support. Let’s go global 🌎🌍🌏 @ZOZOGLOBAL t.co/3kR02rUPGX
Maezawa’s success started when he was young. Yusaku Maezawa, born in 1975, started a band with classmates in 1991 called Switch Style and they released their first EP in 1993. He started out just by selling CDs of his favorite bands from his home and sending them out by mail. This mail-order album business eventually became Start Today. In 2000, he moved Start Today to an online platform and became a public company that also sold clothing. Start Today continued to grow and by 2012, it was listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s First Section.
In 2016, he purchased paintings for $80 million by Pablo Picasso and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Maezawa’s initial deposit to fly with the BFR is substantial and will help fund the ship’s and rocket’s development. His payment will also help fund six to eight artists who will join him on the trip to the moon for free.
I choose to go to the moon, with Artists. #dearMoon
This is a developing story.