In late 2019, American multidimensional creative Kanye West announced that Yeezy, his fashion/sneaker line affiliated with Adidas made a whopping 3 billion dollars. The Chicago-born rapper who owns 100% of Yeezy, then said in an interview that he was a billionaire but this could not be confirmed officially.
With Kanye finally giving access to his accounting records, Forbes has officially announced him a billionaire, 1.3 billion dollars to be exact. According to the publication’s estimates, a large chunk comes from his highly successful Yeezy brand and its partnership with Adidas.
Our sources told us last year that West’s agreement calls for him to receive a royalty around 15% of Yeezy revenue from Adidas. Upon closer inspection, it appears some expenses are carved out of that slice, bringing his actual cut closer to 11%. At that rate, he would have received royalties of over $140 million from Yeezy sales last year. Conservatively, as we typically are with such figures, a 10x multiple, applied to West’s Yeezy cut of $140 million makes his stake worth about $1.4 billion. But that’s a private, highly illiquid $1.4 billion — our rule-of-thumb for private assets like that is to lop off at least 10%. That’s $1.26 billion.
Forbes Reports.
Kanye says his assets are valued at around $3 billion, Forbes gave these figures “a 50% haircut” because of the assets’ liquidity and a lack of independent confirmation. The team also deducted $100 million for debts, which included mortgages and advances, putting Kanye’s estimated net worth at $1.3 billion
“It’s not a billion, It’s $3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count.”
West texted Forbes in rage.
Regardless of the exact figure, the real news is Kanye West is finally a billionaire joining a small list of black billionaires around the world and hip-hop’s second BILLIONAIRE alongside Jay-Z.
