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Kanye West has officially joined the billionaires club.
According to a report published Friday by Forbes, a publication known for calculating the net worth of celebrities, the world-famous rapper and fashion mogul has provided documents proving he is worth over $1 billion-- though he is reportedly still unhappy with it.
Per Forbes:
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.
The figure includes valuing his stake in the Yeezy sneaker line, which Forbes describes as "one of the great retail stories of the century," at $1.26 billion (£1.02 billion).
The magazine calculated the worth of the
artist's assets, including West's Yeezy sneaker collaboration with
Adidas, which Forbes estimated brought him royalties of over $140
million from sales last year, properties, assets and his G.O.O.D. record
label, worth at least $90 million.
The
final total of $1.3 billion, the magazine said, took into account
debts,"asset liquidity" and the magazine's tendency to "look at
self-appraisals somewhat skeptically."
Forbes
reported that West insists his worth stands at $3.3 billion, and he
texted the magazine to say: "It's $3.3 billion since no one at Forbes
knows how to count." But the figure of $1.3 billion still puts him on an
exclusive list.
"... His famous affinity for President Trump makes a lot of sense," Forbes wrote." (And it continues unabated — one text to Forbes’ chief content officer this week ended with 'Trump 2020' and a raised fist emoji.) As does West’s net worth lobbying — an art practiced, with gusto, for decades, by Trump."
The news makes Kanye hip hop's second billionaire after his former mentor Jay-Z. It also sees him worth more than his sister-in-law, Kylie Jenner, who has a
However, Forbes, which stressed there was a lack of independent verification for the figures, also listed West as having debt of about $100 million (£81 million).
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