Zozo’s founder acquires control stakes in two Japanese fashion brands

New York – Yusaku Maezawa, the founder of Japan’s online fashion store Zozo Inc (3092.T), has acquired control stakes in two fellow Japanese apparel companies, United Arrows and Adastria. .

A regulatory filings showed on Thursday shows that Maezawa bought an 8 percent stake in multi-brand retailer United Arrows (7606.T) for 3.5 billion yen (32.78 million dollars) and a 6 percent stake in Adastria (2685.T), another retail group, for 3.9 billion yen. .

The moves were for investment purposes with friendly intentions, the filings said, while adding that he may “make proposals or offer advice to management if needed”. .

Maezawa stepped down as CEO of Zozo last year when he sold it to SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T).