A collector living in Dubai has revealed how he sold the world’s most valuable Pokemon card to YouTube star Logan Paul for almost $5.3 million (Dh19.4m).
In his first ever interview, the collector known only as Dubsy told The National how he bought the card for $60,000 in 2015 before selling it last year.
The sale was acknowledged by Guinness World Records as the most expensive Pokemon trading card sold in a private sale.
The holographic “PSA Grade 10 Pikachu Illustrator” card was sold by Dubsy following a deal at the Burj Al Arab last year.
“I bought the card privately through an auction house back in 2015. I paid $60,000 [Dh220,000] for the card,” said the mysterious Dubsy, who refused to reveal his true identity beyond being a 40-year-old man living in Dubai.
Lavish setting for mega deal
“Logan was looking for the card throughout 2020 when he first got into Pokemon. I wasn't interested in selling the card but he initially came in with an offer of $4m,” Dubsy said.
“I spent the whole day contemplating whether I should sell the card and I couldn’t bring myself to part with it.
“A few months had passed and I was contacted by Logan's middleman again with a new offer and the rest is history.”
Dubsy said he was determined to maintain his anonymity when he met Paul to make the transaction at the Burj Al Arab last July.
He received a cash payment of $4m plus another rare Pokemon card that was worth more than $1.25m.
“Logan travelled to Dubai with his camera crew and friends to film the whole event,” he said.
“The sale was officially done through his lawyer, who wrote up a contract with the details, and the card exchange was done personally when he was in Dubai.”
Dubsy said he had sold many items over the years but this was by far his biggest sale.
“I collect a wide range of historical collectables including vintage comic books, video games and trading cards,” he said.
“I did not know what Logan was planning to do with the card but he is free to do whatever he wants with it.”
The card was put on display by the YouTube star earlier this year when he wore it during an appearance at WWE's showpiece WrestleMania event in April.
This month, it was reported that Paul had signed a multiyear deal with the sports entertainment company, although details of the contract have not been revealed.
Logan's run of success and controversy
Paul has 23.5 million YouTube subscribers as well as 23.2 million followers on Instagram.
The social media personality first came to prominence on the now-defunct social media platform Vine, where he attained a modest following with his short, comedic videos. After Vine was discontinued, Paul turned to YouTube, where his fame swiftly grew.
He secured a number of small roles on television, but his popularity turned to notoriety as he was embroiled in a number of controversies.
One of the most notable occurred when he posted a vlog from Japan's “suicide forest” that showed the body of an apparent suicide victim, causing major backlash, with more than 720,000 people signing a Change.org petition to have his channel deleted — which did not happen.
He is most widely known for his exhibition fight against boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather in June 2021.
Paul announced his plan to sell the card as an NFT, with people invited to invest in the card — with the YouTube star maintaining a 49 per cent stake.
The card was only one of 39 created in 1998 to be given to the winners of a Pokemon illustration contest.
The cards were graded by PSA, an authentication service. Paul's new acquisition is the only one to receive a Grade 10, meaning it is virtually perfect, with “four perfectly sharp corners, sharp focus and full original gloss”.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'
Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.
Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.
"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.
"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.
"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."
