This month, the 44-year-old announced he was seeking single
females over 20 willing to vie to become his girlfriend for a
documentary to be aired on streaming service AbemaTV. Almost
28,000 people applied.
Maezawa said he is "extremely remorseful" about the decision to
pull out, apologizing to the applicants and AbemaTV staff in
posts to Twitter, where he is Japan's most followed account with
more than 7 million followers.
Maezawa, the founder and former CEO of online fashion retailer
Zozo <3092.T>, which he last year sold to SoftBank Group Corp
<9984.T>, is known for launching big ideas with much fanfare -
though some of them don't pan out as planned.
As CEO, he launched the Zozosuit, a polka-dot bodysuit that
allowed users to collect body measurements to order custom-made
clothes but which did not work well in practice. He also
outlined an ambitious overseas expansion plan that wildly
undershot targets, leading to a crash in the company's stock
price.
Maezawa has pledged to give away $9 million to his Twitter
followers in what he says is a "social experiment" to see if the
payment boosts their happiness.
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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