Billionaire Breaks Retweet Record by Offering $10K to 100 Users
Ron Perillo / 6 years ago
5.5 Million Retweets and Counting
Twitter‘s previous 3.55 million retweet record has now been beaten by 43-year old Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. At the time of writing this article, his Tweet has 5,528,055 retweets and 1,393,282 likes.
ZOZOTOWN新春セールが史上最速で取扱高100億円を先ほど突破！！日頃の感謝を込め、僕個人から100名様に100万円【総額1億円のお年玉】を現金でプレゼントします。応募方法は、僕をフォローいただいた上、このツイートをRTするだけ。受付は1/7まで。当選者には僕から直接DMします！ #月に行くならお年玉 pic.twitter.com/cKQfPPbOI3
— 前澤友作@MZDAO (@yousuck2020) January 5, 2019
The previous record-holder is an American teenager named Carter Wilkerson. Wilkerson simply wanted free Chicken nuggets from Wendy’s. So he asked through Twitter how many RTs he needs to get some.Wendy’s official Twitter account responded with an 18 million RT goal.
Even though Wilkerson did not come close to this target number in the end, the fast food chain eventually decided to give him his lifetime supply. After all the PR and exposure is worth it for them.
HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017
How Did He Pull it Off?
Maezawa on the other hand, is not after any free meals. Being a billionaire, he can buy as much Wendy’s Chicken nuggets as he wants. In fact, with his money, he can buy a 10-piece combo with a drink 100 times daily for 9,100 years.
The founder of Japanese retail websites Start Today and Zozotown appears to have done the stunt just because he is bored. Recently, it has also been revealed that Maezawa will be the first passenger on Elon Musk’s flight around the moon on 2023.
In order to get a massive amount of retweets, Maezawa decided to offer 100 million Yen ($10,000 USD) each to 100 select users who Retweet him. Needless to say, it is quite effective. Especially since he is a high-profile and well-known billionaire and can follow through with the promise.
Maezawa claims that he will be contacting the users directly through Twitter direct messaging. Although he did not reveal further details about when or how.
The downside is that many unscrupulous types undoubtedly have seen how effective “buying” a retweet can be. So from now on, expect plenty more of these types of stunts to pop up.
