Kanye West Isn't the Richest Black Man in the US
The Claim
Kanye West is the richest black man in the US.
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Emerging story
On March 17, Bloomberg published a story titled. Gap Has Billion-Dollar Ambitions for Yeezy Deal With Kanye West. The publisher estimated that following a sneaker and apparel business deal with Adidas AG and Gap Inc., Kanye West’s Yeezy brand is now valued between $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion by UBS Group AG. With this, the new Gap partnership's value could be worth as much as $970 million, the Swiss investment bank said.
According to the report, the partnership itself attempts the Gap group to ramp up its sales and increase its appeal with young shoppers, losing shoppers, market share, and sales.
Kanye West's Gap line is projecting to break into a possible sales figure of up to $150 million by the end of its first year in 2022. Further projects will become a billion-dollar revenue brand in another eight years, with projected sales hitting $1 billion by 2023.
With these figures, some media outlets like Metro, Sky News, and Evening Standard ran along, declaring that Kanye West was now the richest black man in the US with a net worth of $6.6 billion.
In turn, it sent social media into a frenzy as the report was shared by many users getting thousands of retweets and likes. For example, famous American author Candace Owens’ tweet praised him for becoming the richest black man in the US, got 8k retweets, 1.7k comments, and 66k likes. Other tweets like this, this, and this also got thousands of retweets and likes.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation shows that Kanye West's report is the richest Black person in America is false.
While Yeezy, West’s sneaker and apparel business partnership with Adidas AG and Gap Inc., is valued at $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion, it is all based on projected revenue and futuristic valuation of the business deal.
Optimism behind the likely sales overtime is also directly influenced by Yeezy’s Adidas sneakers' sales performance, which remained resilient through the pandemic.
According to the document sighted by Bloomberg, Kanye West has a total revenue of $191 million in royalties.
According to Forbes, it is not true that Kanye West is worth as much as $6.6 billion as it estimates his worth to be less than a third of that actually, a figure the publication puts at $1.8 billion.
Forbes also states that in the UBS report cited by Bloomberg, the bank’s assumptions project future earnings, especially the Yeezy Gap brand, which is yet to take off.
From its analysis in the article titled, No, Kanye West Is Not The Richest Black Person In America—And Here’s Why, the publication is quoted as saying that,
“Forbes’ much more grounded number on that old-fashioned idea of current revenues—not theoretical future expectations. Yeezy Gap has brought in no revenue, let alone any profits. Who knows if the line will be popular? Maybe another hip-hop star will create the next trendy sneaker in a year or two, and Yeezys will be old news. The same thinking goes for Yeezy Supply, West’s e-commerce platform. He has high hopes to turn it into a fashion destination—as of now. It just shills his shoes.”
The publication had pegged his net worth last May at $1.3 billion, and as such, even the current capital is a massive leap from last year’s.
It further maintains that America’s businessman, investor, and philanthropist Robert F. Smith remains the richest black man in the U.S. and is worth $6 billion. In contrast, Nigeria’s businessman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, maintains his position as the richest Black person in the world with an estimated worth of $6 billion.
Kanye is said to have a total of $122m (£87m) in cash and stock, $110m (£79m) from his extensive music catalog, which spans the last 20 years, as well as $1.7bn (£1.2bn) in other assets.
Five years ago, Kanye West declared that he was broke and in $53m debt but had made a seeming comeback last year April when he declared himself a billionaire and said his net worth had soared to $3bn (£2.1bn). Forbes had countered the claim saying his value was a lot lesser than that.
He had fired back at the publication, saying, ‘It’s not a billion. It’s $3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count.’
This latest drama around his actual worth is coming on the heels of his divorce case with his now-estranged wife, Kim Kardashian.
Kanye West’s reported $6.6 billion worth of project possible earnings, which have not accrued to him yet. The report is therefore considered fake.
