SpaceX Moon Mission’s Billionaire Passenger Says He’s Broke: ‘I Never Have Any Money’

Giving a jolt to Elon Musk’s SpaceX lunar journey in 2023, Yusaku Maezawa, the mission's first moon tourist and Japanese businessman stated that he is broke and facing a financial crisis.

This was revealed on Twitter, where he notified the sale of his artworks collection. When asked if he was broke, because he was selling artworks, Yusaku Maezawa responded, “Yes, I never have any money because I always spend it.”

However, fashion tycoon’s statement came with a laughing emoji signaling that it was only a half joke.

Of course, he is no pauper, but the fact remains that the rich man’s fortunes have dipped in recent times and his better days were mostly in the past.

Fashion tycoon’s net worth is down

Reports said the Japanese fashion tycoon’s fortune tumbled by $700 million and his rank on Forbes’s list of Japan’s Richest came down to 22 from the erstwhile 18th position.

His company, Zozotown’s market value fell more than 50 percent and pulled down Maezawa’s net worth to less than $2 billion in January 2019 from the $4 billion commanded in 2016.

The art-loving-billionaire will now auction his possessions at Sotheby’s on May 16.

In September 2018, Maezawa signed up to become SpaceX’s first voyager and wished to fly around the moon on a BFR rocket.

Hailing the billionaire’s enthusiasm SpaceX CEO Elon Musk mentioned that the lunar trip’s cost is “not a trivial amount” and Maezawa has paid a hefty deposit to the company.

SpaceX in its media blitz offered him good coverage and boosted his profile as the first moon tourist ready to take off in 2023. It is unclear whether the money Maezawa had paid to SpaceX will be refunded.

Avid art lover and an extravagant spender

The 43-year-old Japanese billionaire is known for his extravagant spending habits. In 2017, he spent a whopping $98 million in just two days at the art auctions in Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

He bought a pricey Basquiat painting at a record $110.5 million and declared that money does not matter to him and his mission will be to transmit the priced artwork to the next generation.

In January this year, he started a random Twitter campaign to spend one million yen ($9,200) to 100 strangers for merely re-tweeting his New Year’s greeting.

As a result, his “Happy New Year” message got tweeted 5.5 million times and became the most shared tweet ever.