Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa ‘regrets’ losing US$41 million in volatile stock markets

The entrepreneur, who sold his online fashion retailer Zozo last year, said he failed to master short-term trading amid pandemic-driven market swings

He is known for publicity stunts such as seeking a girlfriend to travel to the moon on Elon Musk’s rocket in 2023 and giving away cash to Twitter followers

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Yusaku Maezawa, seen here in 2018, said the millions he lost during stock trades could have been given out to people. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:00pm, 7 Sep 2020Updated: 11:06pm, 7 Sep 2020

A Japanese billionaire said on Twitter that he had lost 4.4 billion yen (US$41.4 million) by trading stocks amid volatile swings triggered by the pandemic.

In a tweet titled “Deep Regrets”, Yusaku Maezawa, founder and former chief executive of online fashion retailer Zozo Inc, said he lost money through day trading – a practice he has failed to master. He expressed regret over the sum he had lost and vowed to recover it through his business.

“I was blinded by the virus-driven market swings and lost 4.4 billion yen through repeated short-term trading of stocks, something I haven’t familiarised myself with,” Maezawa said in the Sunday tweet. “With 4.4 billion yen, how many people could the money have been given out to and saved? There’s no end to this regret.”

Maezawa, whose net worth dropped by about US$215 million this year to US$3.5 billion according to Bloomberg-compiled data, is well-known for pulling stunts on Twitter.

Earlier this year, Maezawa said he was looking for female applicants to be his companion on his planned trip to the moon on Elon Musk’s rocket in 2023. He scrapped the plan after facing backlash over the process.

He is known for his big spending on art and sports cars, and also has a predilection for musing on ideas like a world without money.

Maezawa also announced he would give away 1 million yen (US$9 million) to 1,000 of his Twitter followers selected at random from those who retweeted a January 1 post, in what he said was a “social experiment” to see if the payment boosts their happiness, with the impact of the money to be tracked through regular surveys.

“It’s a serious social experiment,” said Maezawa on YouTube, adding he hoped to attract interest from academics and economists.