New York Post

ON YEEZY STREET

Kanye tops $6.6B amid brand boom

- By ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD

Kanye West’s family life may be a disaster, but his finances are looking up.

The “Runaway” rapper — whose wife of seven years, Kim Kardashian, filed for divorce last month after months of headline-grabbing turbulence — has seen his Yeezy shoe and streetwear empire surge in value, making him a multibilli­onaire, according to financial documents obtained by The Post.

Yeezy’s Adidas sneaker venture — whose sales have skyrockete­d during the pandemic amid torrid demand for its dressy-yet-comfy footwear — is now worth as much as $3.7 billion based on the valuations of similar streetwear brands including Supreme, according to an analysis by the investment bank UBS obtained by The Post.

That’s not including a valuation of nearly $1 billion for Yeezy’s upcoming Gap apparel line, which is slated to launch this summer. Both ventures are wholly owned by West, according to people close to the company.

Combine those ventures eye-popping figures with West’s share of his and Kim Kardashian’s Skims underwear line — estimated at $1.7 billion — and West’s net worth appears to have vaulted past the $6 billion mark, sources close to the companies say. The rapper also has a music catalog worth an estimated $110 million and cash and stock worth $122 million, according to Bloomberg, which broke the news about West’s assets on Wednesday.

A net worth as high as $6.6 billion would land West in rarified company — with a fortune that’s nipping at the heels of Robert F. Smith, the privateequ­ity baron who is the richest African American, with a fortune of more than $7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionair­es Index.

In 2019, Forbes had estimated West’s net worth at just $240 million, making him the fourth richest hip-hop artist, behind Diddy, at $740 million, and Dr. Dre, at $800 million. Jay-Z, West’s former labelmate, was ranked No. 1, with a $1 billion fortune.

West’s current eye-popping figures are the result of the Yeezy brand’s wild growth. Sales for the Adidas sneakers grew 31 percent last year, to nearly $1.7 billion in annual revenue, netting West $191 million in royalties, per the UBS report, which noted that by the end of Adidas’ Yeezy deal, revenue is expected to reach $3.1 billion.

“With an obsessive attention to product detail paired with a discipline­d approach to volume management, there exists a significan­t runway for continued growth within this partnershi­p and the footwear segment,” the report said.

Indeed, according to the document dated Feb. 18, Gap is looking to emulate the success of the Adidas deal.

West, who retains sole ownership and creative control of Yeezy, signed a 10-year agreement last year to design and sell clothes for men, women and kids under the Yeezy Gap label.

The arrangemen­t, however, excludes footwear, as Yeezy’s partnershi­p with Adidas remains in place until 2026.

Reps for Adidas, Gap, Yeezy and UBS did not comment.

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