This time it’s for real. Maybe.
Kanye West plans to unveil Donda again Thursday, with plans for a second listening party at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. A July 22 event was live streamed via Apple Music to a reported 3.3 million viewers, possibly a record for the service, but then was immediately removed when West decided to rework the album—moving into the 2-million square-foot stadium, setting up a studio and sharing photos on Instagram that were later made private of a bed he apparently set up in a locker room.
Donda, which he named after his late mother, is West’s 10th studio album and his first in two years. But while the release may be a seminal moment for fans who have been waiting for months to hear it, the new album will barely make a dent in the billionaire rapper’s bank account. He may have gotten rich off music, but the real money for Kanye lies elsewhere.
Forbes estimates West is worth $1.8 billion. Most of that is tied to the value of his insanely popular Yeezy sneakers brand, plus a stake in soon-to-be-ex Kim Kardashian West’s shapewear line Skims and a collection of exotic cars, real estate and other luxurious assets. Music, including the value of his record label GOOD Music and his share of the publishing rights to his songs, accounts for about $100 million, just under 6% of his fortune.
Divorce and an ill-fated presidential run aside, it’s been a fruitful hiatus from music for Kanye. Sales of his sneaker collaboration with Adidas, which launched in 2013, are up almost six fold since 2017, according to a report from investment bank UBS, and the line generated operating income of $214 million in 2020. He also owns a minority stake of Skims and last year inked a 10-year deal to design a clothing line in collaboration with Gap—rounding out a trio of apparel deals that cemented the one-time Jay-Z protege as Hip Hop’s second billionaire, less than a year after his mentor became the first.
Here is a look at Kanye by the numbers, according to Forbes estimates:
Yeezy: $1.5 billion
West’s shoe company, of which he owns 100%, is by far his biggest asset. The company has an exclusive partnership with Adidas, which manufactures and distributes the distinctive, often avant-garde sneakers at upwards of $200 a pair. The shoes regularly sell out and go on to fetch prices above $1,000 on the secondary market. In 2020, sales of the shoes hit nearly $1.7 billion, according to a document from UBS.
Music: $90million
While his songwriting rights and GOOD Music label, which includes works by Common, John Legend and Teyana Taylor in addition to his own, may be worth a nine-figure sum, it does not reflect the full value of his music. Universal Music Group still owns the masters of his most popular albums, including The College Dropout, Graduation and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The fact that he has not been able to buy them back has been a source of ire for West.
While those albums may be out of his grasp for now, he still receives plenty in royalties. West’s songs were streamed more than 2.6 billion times in the U.S. in the past year, according to MRC Data, earning him an estimated $10 million in recording royalties alone. Add to that the pay he earns as a producer, which recently included the music video for Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby,” the 22-year-old rapper’s latest single from his upcoming debut album, Montero.
Skims: $64 million
Despite filing for a divorce, West still holds a piece of Skims, the shapewear brand crafted by his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian West. The company was valued at $1.6 billion in a private transaction earlier this year. The debut Skims collection that went on sale in 2019 was heavily influenced by West, who at the time was called the “ghost creative director” by his then wife.
Cash, Real Estate and Toys: $160 million
West lives a champagne-taste lifestyle, whether at YZY Shelters, the former Kimye monastery-inspired house in Calabasas, or his Yeezy Campus in Wyoming. He also has an impressive car collection that includes a Maybach 57 and an Aston Martin DBS, as well as a luxury model tank known as the Ripsaw EV2. And while many people look to Wayfair for their next sofa, not West — he prefers his grand couch designed by Jean Royére, which can cost a light $600,000.
Yeezy x Gap: TBD
Last year, Gap turned to West for a desperately needed injection of cool. Based on the collaboration’s first launch, a unisex puffer released in June that quickly saw high demand, it seems like Gap made the right bet. The jacket, which initially sold for $200 apiece, now goes for $560 on the secondary market. According to Wells Fargo analyst Ike Boruchow, Yeezy could generate up to $1 billion in sales for Gap in 2022 between its product sales and the value it adds to the legacy brand. It brought the hip factor back to Adidas, notes Boruchow, adding that “if that can be replicated in any way, shape or form for the Gap brand, then that's a very big deal for the company.” All the best for West’s fortune. The deal grants him 8.5 million stock warrants, allocated based on sales. Plus, the mogul will earn royalties of as much as 25% on the line’s sales.
