Nairobi News

Must Read

Billionaire giving Sh900 million to his Twitter followers to see if it will make them happy

By Hilary Kimuyu January 11th, 2020 1 min read

A Japanese billionaire is giving away Sh900 million ($9 million) to people on Twitter to see if it boosts their happiness.

Yusaku Maezawa on Sunday said he would split the money among 1,000 of his lucky Twitter followers as part of a social experiment.

All Twitter users had to do was retweet his post. “Hope your life will be happier with 1 million yen,” posted Maezawa on Twitter.

The decision is part of a social experiment to see if money really does buy happiness.

SOCIAL TRIAL

The billionaire posted his idea on YouTube calling it a “serious social trial” and told winners to use the money how they liked.

The competition which closed on Tuesday allowed almost anybody to enter.

More than 4 million people heeded his call and retweeted. A lottery will determine the winners, and Maezawa will personally notify them in a direct message within two to three days.

Maezawa also said he would contact the lucky winners afterward to ask about the impact, and called for social scientists to help analyze the results of the experiment.

This is not the first time the eccentric billionaire has performed this kind of similar competition.

In January 2019 he promised to give away 100 million yen to one hundred Twitter followers.

Maezawa has a net worth of Sh200 billion ($2 billion), according to Forbes magazine.

He is famous for founding Japan’s largest online fashion mall Zozotown and along with Elon Musk plans to travel to space.