The musician formerly known as Kanye West has been removed from Forbes' list of billionaires when Adidas opted to end their connection with him.
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According to the magazine, the rapper is now worth over $400 million. Previously, the Adidas contract accounted for nearly $1.5 billion of his personal wealth.
Adidas has been under public pressure to break connections with West after the rapper made increasingly inflammatory public statements in recent months, such as claiming on the Drink Champs Podcast, "I can say antisemitic s*** and Adidas cannot drop me."
According to Morningstar analyst David Swartz, Adidas earned roughly $2 billion per year from Yeezy, their partnership brand with Ye, accounting for 4% to 8% of total revenue. They estimate "A short-term negative impact of up to €250 million ($246 million) on the company’s net income in 2022 given the high seasonality of the fourth quarter".
According to Forbes, the rest of Ye's income is made up of real estate, cash, his music archive, and a 5% investment in his ex-wife Kim Kardashian's shapewear company, Skims.
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Other companies and platforms have broken connections with Ye in recent weeks as he has publicly used racist rhetoric.
Other organizations, including Balenciaga, Vogue, and talent agency CAA, have also opted to break connections with the artist. He was removed from Instagram and Twitter. According to the New York Times, he is no longer tied to Def Jam, the production business with whom he has long been linked after his contract expires in 2021.
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