Yahoo Japan bids for control of fashion e-tailer Zozo

16 Sep '19

2 min read

Pic: Zozo

Yahoo Japan recently said it will take over Japan’s biggest online fashion retailer Zozo for $3.7 billion, aiming to breathe fresh life into it and compete better against rivals. Zozo’s billionaire founder Yusaku Maezawa said he will step down as chief executive and sell most of his stake after its market value dropped by more than half from last year.

For Maezawa, it would bring a windfall of around $2.3 billion. He said he will sell a stake of around 30 per cent, leaving him with about 6 per cent in the company, according to Japanese media reports.

The deal reportedly offers Yahoo Japan an opportunity to take the lead in Japan’s online fashion space where Amazon and Rakuten have struggled to make headway, and where Zozo’s mall Zozotown controls around 50 per cent of the market for mid- to high-end fashion.

Yahoo Japan, which will next month change its name to Z Holdings Corp, is a unit of SoftBank controlled by the investment conglomerate’s telecoms unit SoftBank Corp.

Maezawa signed up as the first private passenger to be taken around the moon by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and paid $110 million to buy a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting. He sold part of his extensive art collection at Sotheby’s, saying he has no money.

Zozo has also been hit by the departure of several brands, some unhappy with its discounting policies and others wanting to create their own e-commerce services. (DS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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