Kanye West loves to tell everyone that he’s a billionaire … well that might not be the case in just a few days.
Adidas and GAP are being pressured to cut ties with Kanye West’s Yeezy Brand, and if they do so, Media Take Out confirmed that it would severely reduce Kanye’s net worth.
Here’s what we know. Kanye West’s “billionaire” status is largely tied to his Yeezy apparel line, which Ye owns outright 100% – but earns a royalty on the sales which are north of $1.5 billion per year.
According to several private bank estimates Yeezy is a $4 – $5 billion brand. They determined that estimate based on the Yeezy brands relationship with two retailers, Adidas and GAP.
In March 2021, a UBS valuation estimated that Yeezy adds $3-4 billion to Kanye’s net worth bottom line. The same report estimates Kanye’s deal with The Gap adds another $1 billion to West’s net worth.
Well Ye’s deal with the GAP was cancelled in September, wiping about A BILLION of value along with it.
And Ye’s deal with Adidas looks like it may be cancelled pretty soon also. Media Take Out confirmed that the rapper and designer, formerly known as Kanye West, has in recent weeks made several degrading remarks about Jewish people and targeted his business partners with public threats.
Up until now, Adidas said it would “continue to co-manage the current product” from Ye’s Yeezy brand, according to an Oct. 6 statement.
But now, one of the strongest Jewish organizations is pressuring Adidas to drop Ye, which would wipe $3-4 billion in value from Kanye’s bottom line.
“In light of Kanye West’s increasingly strident antisemitic remarks over the past few weeks, we were disturbed to learn that Adidas plans to continue to release new products from his Yeezy brand without any seeming acknowledgement of the controversy surrounding his most recent remarks,” the ADL letter reads.
“We urge Adidas to reconsider supporting the Ye product line and to issue a statement making clear that the Adidas company and community has no tolerance whatsoever for antisemitism,” the letter says.’
Adidas did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Ye first partnered with Adidas in 2013 but has recently said he believes the company stole his ideas and hasn’t given him enough control over the Yeezy brand. He’s posted pictures attacking Adidas board members to his social media and in early September posted a doctored image of a New York Times front page falsely claiming Rorsted had died.
In recent days, Ye’s comments have escalated to include threatening and hateful comments about Jewish people. Twitter and Instagram both suspended him from the platforms. On Monday, right-wing social media company Parler said Ye had agreed to buy the app.
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