"Invested 5 Billion in Korean Hearing Aids"…The Choice of a 'Japanese Eccentric Billionaire'

Joining Billionaires After Selling Online Shopping Mall Startup
Investing with Focus on Growth Potential of Korea's Silver Industry

Yusaku Maezawa, the founder of Japan's ZOZOTOWN and known as the "eccentric billionaire," has chosen a domestic hearing aid startup as his first investment target in South Korea.

Yusaku Maezawa is called the "Elon Musk of Japan" for his astronomical wealth, driving various businesses and projects, and showing eccentric traits.
[Photo by Yusaku Maezawa Instagram]

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 17th, Maezawa recently invested about 5 billion KRW in the hearing aid company Olive Union. Maezawa Yusaku's investment is seen as a move that highly values the growth potential of Korea's silver industry.

Yusaku Maezawa started an overseas music album mail-order business in 1995 while performing in a band and officially debuted as a singer in 1998. However, he continued his business activities and established Japan's largest online shopping mall, ZOZOTOWN, in 2004, which was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2007.

In 2019, Maezawa sold 50.1% of ZOZOTOWN shares to Yahoo Japan for about 4.4 trillion KRW, rising to the ranks of emerging tycoons. According to the American economic magazine Forbes in December 2021, Maezawa's net worth was approximately 2 billion USD (about 2.51 trillion KRW).

Yusaku Maezawa, known as Japan's Elon Musk

Yusaku Maezawa announced in December last year the 8 crew members and 2 reserve crew members who will participate in the private citizen's first lunar travel project, 'dearMoon.' The crew members include singer and actor 'BIGBANG TOP' (Choi Seung-hyun) as well as artists and creators from around the world.
[Photo by Yusaku Maezawa Instagram]

Yusaku Maezawa is called "Japan's Elon Musk" for pushing various businesses and projects with his astronomical wealth and showing eccentric traits. The global attention on his activities began when he appeared as the first customer for the lunar travel project promoted by Elon Musk's space exploration company SpaceX.

Since then, he has gained more fame through bizarre actions based on his accumulated wealth. For example, he distributed over 10 billion KRW as New Year's money to his Twitter followers or selected 10 people through a lottery among those who followed his Twitter and gave each 1 million KRW.

In 2017, Maezawa purchased the painting "Untitled" by Jean-Michel Basquiat, a genius artist compared to Picasso, at an American art auction for 110.5 million USD. According to The New York Times, this was the highest price ever paid at a contemporary art auction at that time.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.