This archive report was first published on 11 January 2020.
Published on January 11, 2020, a Japanese billionaire embarked on a unique social experiment to determine if money can indeed buy happiness.
Yusaku Maezawa, a billionaire with a net worth of Sh200 billion, announced that he would be giving away Sh900 million ($9 million) to 1,000 of his lucky Twitter followers.
The catch? All Twitter users had to do was retweet his post, with Maezawa posting, “Hope your life will be happier with 1 million yen.”
The decision was part of a social experiment to see if money really does buy happiness, with Maezawa calling it a “serious social trial” in a YouTube video.
Over 4 million people heeded his call and retweeted, with a lottery to determine the winners. Maezawa will personally notify the winners in a direct message within two to three days.
Notably, this is not the first time Maezawa has conducted a similar competition, having promised to give away 100 million yen to one hundred Twitter followers in January 2019.
Maezawa is also famous for founding Japan’s largest online fashion mall Zozotown and plans to travel to space with Elon Musk.
