--- title: Meet the Japanese Billionaire Who Just Bought the $110.5 Million Basquiat Painting description: Yusaku Maezawa is one of the richest men in Japan, and he just spent $110.5 million on a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting authors: - name: Lisa Marie Segarra url: https://money.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 44 covers: - Lifestyle - Business - Career Advice - Economy and Politics - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/lisamarie_lynn former_staff: true published: '2017-05-19T16:13:58.000Z' modified: '2017-05-19T16:13:58.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Art - onetime word_count: 300 canonical: https://money.com/basquiat-yusaku-maezawa-billionaire-auction/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Yusaku-Maezaw-sothebys-jean-michel-basquiat-painting-auction-record-Untitled-skull](https://img.money.com/2017/05/yusaku-maezaw-sothebys-jean-michel-basquiat-painting-auction-record-untitled-skull.jpg?crop=0px%2C26px%2C900px%2C506px&quality=85) *Yusaku Maezawa, noted Japanese collector and entrepreneur, bought Jean-Michel Basquiat's Masterpiece "Untitled," for $110.5 million after a 10-minute bidding war at Sotheby's in New York on May 18, 2017.* Yusaku Maezawa is one of the richest men in Japan, and he just spent $110.5 million on a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, the highest price for a piece of artwork by an American artist. Besides being an is an avid art collector, Maezawa has [a net worth of $3.6 billion](https://www.forbes.com/profile/yusaku-maezawa/), according to *Forbes.* Here's what to know about Maezawa. ## How did he make his money? Maezawa made his billions by creating the [Start Today company,](https://www.forbes.com/companies/start-today/) which is in the electronic commerce industry, in 1998, according to *Forbes*. Maezawa serves [president and representative director](http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/officerProfile?symbol=3092.T&officerId=1069135) of the company, Reuters reports. He also created the company Zozotown, *Forbes* reports, who notes it is Japan's largest online fashion mall. ## What other art has he bought? The Basquiat piece Maezawa bought is the [most expensive painting sold](http://fortune.com/2017/05/19/basquiat-painting-auction-record-maezawa/) in by an American artist, according to CNN Money, but it was not the Japanese billionaire's first big art purchase. Maezawa previously purchased another untitled painting by Basquiat for $57.3 million, [the BBC reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36273197). [His other art purchases](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36273197) include works from Jeff Koons, Christopher Wool and Richard Prince at prices varying in the millions of dollars, according to the BBC. The Japan *Times* reported that he spent [$98 million on art within just two days](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/05/12/business/collector-maezawa-drops-98-million-art-two-days/#.WR8D4xPytTY) in 2016. Maezawa [told](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2017/04/05/japanese-billionaire-yusaku-maezawa-on-why-hes-buying-big-name-art/#f5de2a033ac5) *[Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2017/04/05/japanese-billionaire-yusaku-maezawa-on-why-hes-buying-big-name-art/#f5de2a033ac5)* in April that he started buying and collecting art 10 years ago and that he especially enjoys collecting contemporary art. ## What does he do with the art? The BBC reports that he is the founder of the Contemporary Art Foundation in Tokyo, which puts on two shows a year. He is also planning to build a museum in Chiba, Japan, just outside of Tokyo, according to *Forbes*. CNN Money reported that Maezawa plans to [loan his latest painting out](http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/18/luxury/jean-michel-basquiat-untitled-painting-auction-record/) around world before putting it in his personal museum. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/basquiat-yusaku-maezawa-billionaire-auction/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Art and Culture", "item": "https://money.com/art-and-culture/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Meet the Japanese Billionaire Who Just Bought the $110.5 Million Basquiat Painting" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/basquiat-yusaku-maezawa-billionaire-auction/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/basquiat-yusaku-maezawa-billionaire-auction/", "name": "Meet the Japanese Billionaire Who Just Bought the $110.5 Million Basquiat Painting", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2017-05-19T16:13:58.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/basquiat-yusaku-maezawa-billionaire-auction/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/basquiat-yusaku-maezawa-billionaire-auction/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2017-05-19T16:13:58.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Meet the Japanese Billionaire Who Just Bought the $110.5 Million Basquiat Painting", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/05/yusaku-maezaw-sothebys-jean-michel-basquiat-painting-auction-record-untitled-skull.jpg?crop=0px%2C26px%2C900px%2C506px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "Yusaku-Maezaw-sothebys-jean-michel-basquiat-painting-auction-record-Untitled-skull" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Lisa Marie Segarra", "url": "https://money.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/lisamarie_lynn" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2017-05-19T16:13:58.000Z", "description": "Yusaku Maezawa is one of the richest men in Japan, and he just spent $110.5 million on a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting", "abstract": "Yusaku Maezawa is one of the richest men in Japan, and he just spent $110.5 million on a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting", "@id": "https://money.com/basquiat-yusaku-maezawa-billionaire-auction/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2017-05-19T16:13:58.000Z", "wordCount": 300, "keywords": [ "Art", "onetime" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Lifestyle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Contents/Culture and the arts", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Culture_and_the_arts" ] } ] } ] } ```