Japan’s Richest Man Just Lost $1.4 Billion in One Day Because of Uniqlo

Japanese billionaire Tadashi Yanai lost $1.4 billion on Friday when his clothing chain, Uniqlo, reported a drop in sales for December 2016.

It’s definitely one bad day for business.

Yanai’s shares fell by 6.7%, marking the biggest fall in 2017 among the world’s richest 500 in Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. He slipped six places down the list to 44th.

Uniqlo Japan blamed the unusual warm weather for its losses in winter clothing, The Independent said. All receipts were down by 5%.

[Resized] Image: Jigneshhn/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Image via Jigneshhn/Wikimedia Commons

Nevertheless, with a net worth of $17.2 billion, Yanai remains Japan’s richest person. He is the chairman, president and CEO of Fast Retailing, of which Uniqlo is a subsidiary.

Uniqlo’s first store opened in Hiroshima in 1984. As of December 31, 2016, the fashion chain runs 841 stores in Japan alone.

In 2015, Yanai expressed his desire to establish Uniqlo as the biggest apparel retailer by 2020. He projected a revenue of around $43 billion, The Telegraph noted.

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