The rapper and designer has seen his earnings jump this year, in large part due to his Yeezy brand.
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March
18, 2021
2 min read
Artist Kanye West is now the richest Black man in U.S. history, People reports.
The 43-year-old rapper, whose hit singles include “Stronger,” “Heartless” and “Gold Digger,” is worth approximately $6.6 billion — less than a year after he first appeared on Forbes‘ annual billionaires list. The jump is largely attributed to West’s sneaker and apparel brand Yeezy, which is currently valued between $3.2 billion and $4.7 billion by UBS Group AG.
Though West initially claimed that his net worth was more than $3 billion in April 2020, Forbes disputed the figure at the time and put the number closer to $1.3 billion.
Related: 3 Entrepreneurial Lessons to Learn From Kanye West
The rapper has full ownership and creative control of Yeezy but also has a partnership deal with Adidas AG and — more recently — Gap Inc. West signed a 10-year deal with the latter company in June 2020. A Bloomberg report notes that the value of that particular partnership “could be worth as much as $970 million of that total.”
In addition to his Yeezy brand, West reportedly has $122 million in cash and stock. He also has $110 million from his music catalog (the rapper has released nine studio albums and three collaborative albums to date) and $1.7 billion in other assets — including a stake in his estranged wife Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS line.
West joins investor Robert F. Smith as the only two Black businessmen with a net worth of at least $6 billion.