Japanese fashion tycoon Maezawa shows off $900 mln SoftBank payday
29/11/2019 12:38
By Sam Nussey
TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Japan's Yusaku Maezawa on Friday
posted footage of a $900 million payday for the fashion magnate
following his sale of a stake in Zozo Inc 3092.T , the online
fashion retailer he founded, to SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T .
In a video posted to YouTube, Maezawa visited a Tokyo bank
to update his bank book, which showed a new balance of around
100 billion yen ($900 million).
"It's nerve-wracking!" Maezawa said as he entered the
branch.
The windfall follows a tender offer by Z Holdings 4689.T ,
which is controlled by SoftBank's domestic wireless unit, for
half of Zozo's shares this month.
The deal saw Maezawa reduce his stake in the fashion company
to 18%.
Maezawa made 150 billion yen in the deal but a third has
already been used to pay down debt, he said in the Youtube video
from the seat of his chauffeur-driven car.
The former punk band drummer is well-known for his love of
high-end art and sports cars.
Maezawa, who has a close relationship with SoftBank founder
Masayoshi Son and is planning a trip around the moon in a rocket
from Elon Musk's SpaceX, stepped down as Zozo CEO following a
series of botched initiatives. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N26243X
His stake sale is the latest pay-out by SoftBank to a
wealthy company founder.
In September the investment conglomerate bailed out
office-sharing startup WeWork in a deal that saw co-founder Adam
Neumann exit with a $1.7 billion package.
($1 = 108.6400 yen)
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; editing by Jason Neely)
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