London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

This Fashion Billionaire Plans To Hand Out Cash From Space

This Fashion Billionaire Plans To Hand Out Cash From Space

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday on a Soyuz spacecraft taking him to the International Space Station for a 12-day trip.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who regularly gives out money on Twitter to attract followers, is planning to do the same from space.

The 46-year-old fashion magnate blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday on a Soyuz spacecraft taking him to the International Space Station for a 12-day trip. "I feel like a kid waiting for a school trip," Maezawa said at an earlier news conference.

The founder of online clothing retailer Zozo Inc is Japan's first space tourist. The trip is a prelude to a planned SpaceX trip to the moon, announced in 2018 by Maezawa and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. founder Elon Musk. As entrepreneurs open up a new era in space, Miami tech tycoon Lane Bess is also among those blasting off this week on a rocket from Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin.

Maezawa, also the first space tourist to travel to the ISS in more than a decade, has spent months tweeting about his planned sojourns beyond earth's atmosphere, using the social-media platform to recruit fellow space tourists and even find a life partner to travel with him on the lunar trip scheduled for 2023. The billionaire, who has a tendency to overshare his life in tweets, will be detailing the results of experiments requested by his fans on his YouTube channel of more than 770,000 subscribers.


The mogul, who skipped college and joined a rock band before amassing his wealth, has also been posting footage of his training sessions at a space center outside Moscow. The trip on the Russian Soyuz MS-20 is estimated to cost more than $88 million for Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano, according to estimates in local media. Also aboard will be Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.

"My dream is finally coming true," said Maezawa, who returns to earth Dec. 20. Winners of the billionaire's online cash handouts - which can be as much as 1 million yen ($8,800) - usually receive them via bank transfers; this time, instead of a lottery, Maezawa has promised that everyone who participates in the handout will win and receive some amount.

The space launch is part of broader effort to open up the ISS to business opportunities as NASA seeks to replace the space station with a commercial orbiter by 2030. In September, a SpaceX rocket sent four civilians into orbit, bolstering Musk's aspirations to make human spaceflight more accessible.

With a net worth of $3.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Maezawa is one of Japan's most flamboyant entrepreneurs, making headlines dating celebrities and going on shopping splurges. He began to attract attention in 2016 when he bought a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting for $57.3 million, and another for $110.5 million the following year.

Zozo once became a top retailer in Japan by lining up brands on its website and selling body-tight suits to take measurements for custom-fitted clothes. But the torrid pace of growth didn't last. Maezawa resigned from management in 2019 after selling a stake in the company.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×