After a series of antisemitic remarks and “White Lives Matter” stunts, the decision by Adidas to end its deal with
Kanye West’s Yeezy brand slashed his net worth by $1.5 billion, according to Forbes.
Calculations of the rapper now known as Ye’s wealth have long been muddled by his own exaggerations, but Forbes
eventually declared him a billionaire in 2020.
He’s now lost the long-sought title, but is still worth a healthy $400 million, per Forbes, which ranks him the 2,543th
richest person in the world.
This figure rests on Ye’s extremely popular music catalog, which is still available on major streaming services, as well as his extensive real estate portfolio, numerous flashy assets, and a 5% stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims.
In October, during his brand Yeezy’s show at Paris Fashion Week, Ye wore a shirt emblazoned with the words “White Lives Matter” — a phrase which has been linked to various white supremacist groups. Shortly afterwards, he posted an antisemitic tirade on Twitter.
Ye was dropped by big brands, including Balenciaga, Gap, Vogue, and — perhaps most crushingly — Adidas. His record label G.O.O.D. was dropped by Def Jam, per The New York Times, and he’s no longer represented by Creative Artists Agency.
Ye did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Ye’s income from album sales isn’t known, but he’s sold an estimated 160 million records — making him one of the world’s best-selling recording artists.
He’s also still making money from streaming, even in the wake of his recent offensive comments. Ye’s music remains available across most major platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify — and that’s unlikely to change, per The Los Angeles Times.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told Reuters that, although he considered Ye’s antisemitic comments “just awful,” those messages don’t feature in his music, so don’t affect his future on Spotify. “It’s really just his music, and his music doesn’t violate our policy,” said Ek.
Although radio airplay is down, per Billboard, Ye’s streaming tallies were still strong in the wake of the controversy last year.
In the seven days after October 3, when Ye wore his controversial “White Lives Matter” shirt at Paris Fashion Week, his catalog had an average daily streaming tally of 13.1 million in the US, per Luminate via Billboard.
This figure remained pretty steady even after Ye’s antisemitic tirades, which sparked widespread condemnation and prompted major brands to sever highly-profitable ties with him.
Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music did not respond to Insider’s requests for comment.