Yusaku Maezawa Japanese entrepreneur, billionaire and art collector Date of Birth: 22.11.1975 Country: Japan

1. Yusaku Maezawa: A Visionary Entrepreneur and Art Collector
2. Early Life and Education
3. Business Ventures
4. Art Collection
5. Space Flight
6. Personal Life

Yusaku Maezawa: A Visionary Entrepreneur and Art Collector

Yusaku Maezawa (born November 22, 1975) is a Japanese billionaire entrepreneur, art collector, and self-designated space traveler. With a net worth of $3.6 billion as of May 2017, Forbes magazine ranked Maezawa as the 14th richest person in Japan.

Early Life and Education

Maezawa was born in Kamagaya, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He attended Waseda Jitsugyo High School in 1991, where he formed an indie rock band called Switch Style with classmates. The band released its first EP in 1993. After graduating high school, Maezawa chose not to pursue college but instead moved to the United States with his girlfriend, where he immersed himself in music collecting.

Business Ventures

Maezawa returned to Japan in 1995 and leveraged his music collection to start his first company, a CD import and mail-order business. In 1998, he used his CD delivery company to launch Start Today. The same year, his band signed a deal with BMG Japan. By 2000, Start Today had transitioned to an online platform and became a public company. Maezawa stepped down from his musical career in 2001.

In 2004, Start Today launched Zozotown, a retail clothing website. The company became listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange six years later. By 2012, Start Today qualified for the Tokyo Stock Exchange's First Section. More recently, Maezawa introduced the ZOZO brand, which offers custom-fit clothing and the ZOZOSUIT home measurement system available in over 72 countries and territories. The ZOZOSUIT is a "smart" suit made of flexible fabric with 150 embedded sensors that capture measurements, track movements, and provide comprehensive size analysis for optimal clothing selection.

Art Collection

Maezawa is the founder of the Contemporary Art Foundation in Tokyo, established in 2012 with the mission of "supporting young artists who represent the next generation of contemporary art." The foundation currently holds biannual exhibitions of its collection. In May 2016, Maezawa made headlines when he purchased an unnamed work by neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Basquiat at auction for $57.3 million. He broke his own record in May 2017, buying another Basquiat artwork for $110.5 million. At the 2016 auction, Maezawa also acquired pieces by Bruce Nauman, Alexander Calder, Richard Prince, and Jeff Koons, spending over $98 million in just two days of bidding. The billionaire plans to open a museum for contemporary art in his home prefecture.

Space Flight

On September 17, 2018, it was announced that Maezawa would become the first commercial passenger to travel around the Moon. The Japanese entrepreneur will fly to the Earth's satellite aboard the BFR rocket being developed by SpaceX and announced by Elon Musk. The 384,000-kilometer journey is scheduled to take place no earlier than 2023 and will last approximately six days. Maezawa will bring six to eight others into space with him—"an artist, a musician, a filmmaker, a fashion designer...the most talented individuals on Earth"—who will participate in his art project titled #dearMoon.

Personal Life

Maezawa is not married but has three children from two different women. He supports his former partners and their children financially. He is currently dating actress, model, and mother of two, Saeko Dokyu, the ex-wife of Major League Baseball star Yu Darvish.