When Forbes Deciding that Kanye West had a net worth of $1 billion two years ago, the reaction of the new billionaire — who had long argued he had already made — was swift.
West wrote a text message: ‘It’s not a billion’ Forbes. “It’s 3.3 billion dollars since there was no one in the Forbes He knows how to calculate.”
The superstar rapper, who uses his legal name Ye, is now putting his billion-dollar net worth at risk, announcing this week that he has wound up with Corporate America, the source of his fortune. Just a week after saying he wanted to end his altercations in the wake of Queen Elizabeth’s death, he took a new audience out for beef, and told clothing chain Gap he was ending his contract with them, according to a report in The Guardian. The Wall Street Journal. The rift seemed to be mutual. Mark Brittbard, Gap President and CEO, sent an email to Gap Inc employees on Thursday afternoon saying that Gap “has decided to end the partnership” with Yeezy Gap, adding that “How We are working together to deliver this vision incompatible,” according to a copy of the email seen before Forbes.
The move came months after he sniped at the sneaker company Adidas, which pays him about $220 million a year for the right to sell Yeezy sneakers.
“You really have to give me the position to be Ye and let me do what I think,” he told Gap executives in an August video on Instagram, “or I should think elsewhere.”
Yeezy’s partnership with Gap got off to a slow start, and as a result Forbes It has not been attributed nearly as much value compared to West’s partnership with Adidas. Forbes West’s deal with Adidas is estimated to be worth $1.5 billion, based on a multiple of annualized earnings. (The latest documents shown by the West Forbes It did not include a full year of Yeezy Gap financial results.) Altogether, Forbes Now West is valued at $2 billion. This includes a stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian Skims’ clothing line, real estate, cash and related assets from his multi-platinum music career.
It’s his beef with Adidas that jeopardizes the billionaire status Ye has been holding for so long. Losing the shoe giant would hurt his fortune to less than $1 billion, based on Forbes Estimates, the fall that will happen even when he shakes his inner circle. Since late 2021, at least two senior members of his team have left — a communications director who requested anonymity, citing fears of breaching a nondisclosure agreement, and entertainment attorney Miles Cooley. Before that, the billionaire rapper left the finance and accounting department and replaced them with Cohn Reznick, a giant global accounting firm. Just days ago, Donald Trump celebrity Michael Cohen told Bloomberg that although West hired him for personal affairs, he’s no longer working with the rapper.
Cooley declined to comment, citing distinct information. The communications executive, along with representatives for Cohn Reznick, did not respond to questions. “I don’t see any need to discuss the terms of my relationship with Ye,” Cohen said. Forbes via text message.
Gap did not report separate results for Yeezy, which launched into a sensation last year but has since received a quieter embrace from the retailer. Gap’s most recent quarterly report, submitted in May and August, doesn’t mention Yeezy at all, while Gap’s 2021 annual report examines the brand only once, on page 33: “The brand has also launched partnerships including Gap Home with Walmart and Yeezy the difference .”
The The Wall Street Journal It was reported Thursday that West, through attorneys, sent a letter to Gap stating his intention to terminate the partnership despite being under contract with the retailer until 2026. The letter claims that Gap violated its agreement by not opening stores dedicated to Yeezy products and failing to release the garment . In his email to Gap employees, Breitbard says otherwise: “It is important to know that throughout this partnership we have lived up to our commitments – and teams have done so with the utmost integrity, overcoming obstacles and demonstrating incredible determination.”
Although it was only two years old, the relationship soured for a while, with reports emerging in late 2021 that Gap was frustrated with Yeezy’s slow rollout of the product. Since then, West Gap has been accused of freezing him from the creative process and copying his designs. He has made similar charges against Adidas.
Conflict is nothing new for the West. He had a long feud with Taylor Swift. His divorce from Kardashian was controversial and he made aggressive posts on social media about comedian Pete Davidson when he was dating her. Two years ago, he used Twitter to call out the Universal Music Group, and posted dozens of pages of his recording contract, calling the music industry “modern slavery.” West revealed in 2018 that he has bipolar disorder.
Representatives for West, Universal Music Group, Gap and Adidas did not respond to requests for comment.
