ExcessvsNeed
Excess

Maezawa's $57.3M Art Buy

Yusaku Maezawa · Paid $57.3 Million for Another Basquiat Painting One Year Earlier

$57.3 million
Need

Could have saved

10,418

lives from malaria

GiveWell estimates its top charities save a life for $3,000 to $5,500. We use the higher figure: $5,500, the cost through Against Malaria Foundation bed nets. GiveWell, How much does it cost to save a life?

Maezawa paid $57.3 million for a Basquiat work at a Christie's sale in May 2016.

Or it could have

  1. 10,418

    lives from malariaGiveWell estimates its top charities save a life for $3,000 to $5,500. We use the higher figure: $5,500, the cost through Against Malaria Foundation bed nets. GiveWell, How much does it cost to save a life?

  2. 523,288

    hungry kids for a whole yearNo Kid Hungry: $1 can help provide 10 meals for kids. Three meals a day for 365 days is 1,095 meals, about $110 per child per year. No Kid Hungry, What your dollars can do

  3. 1.4 million

    people clean drinking watercharity: water: about $40 funds clean water for one person, on average, in rural communities. charity: water, How much clean water will my donation provide

  4. 3,211

    homeless veteransAt the U.S. median rent of $1,487 a month (Census, 2024), about $17,844 a year. U.S. Census Bureau median gross rent, via USAFacts

  5. 1,606

    families escaping abuse a safe home for two yearsThe federal transitional housing program for survivors pays market rent for up to 24 months. At the U.S. median rent of $1,487 a month (Census, 2024), that is about $35,688 per family. U.S. DOJ Office on Violence Against Women, Transitional housing

Share it

Maezawa's $57.3M Art Buy, $57.3 million, vs 10,418 lives from malaria

One card per need, sized for Instagram and TikTok (1080 by 1350).

The purchase: Bloomberg, May 2016. The full story on Rich vs Reality →