A Japanese billionaire distributes $ 9 million in a strange experience on Twitter
The fashion tycoon says the move is part of a "social experiment" to see if the money will boost the happiness of the beneficiaries of the experiment.
Mazawa will be given to 1000 randomly chosen followers and their retweet posted on January 1, £ 7,000 (more than $ 9,000).
He said the impact of the money would be tracked through regular surveys. "This is a dangerous social experience," Maizawa said on YouTube, adding that he hoped to attract the interest of academics and economists.
Maizawa is set to be the first private passenger to fly around the moon in 2023 using an Elon Musk spacecraft, as he is known for his heavy spending on sports cars and artwork.
Maizawa linked the gift with his idea of basic income, or the theory of providing a periodic payment without restrictions for all citizens, which gained momentum in some political circles in Japan.
"Basic income means the usual minimum that provides a sense of security, but what Mazawa offers is completely different," said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at the Life Research Institute in Daichi.
The Japanese billionaire said that given that he “has the money and spare time” to pay these sums, he felt the need to try to spark a larger debate about the merits of this theory in Japan.
The deadline for tweets came at midnight on January 7. The winners have not been announced yet.
In November, the businessman earned 690 million pounds (more than nine hundred million dollars) by selling his online business, Zozo, to Japan's Softbank Group Investment Company.
Meizawa has a fortune of more than $ 3 billion and he made it from his foundation and chairmanship of Zuzu Town, the largest online fashion store in Japan, which makes him the richest person there, and has collected nearly seven million followers on Twitter with social experiences and his statements on the meaning of life.
However, the lively billionaire did not make his way to international fame until 2018, when he was chosen as the first passenger on a special moon trip by Elon Musk, "SpaceX".
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