Kanye West’s net worth has jumped by more than $140 million — but he’s still a far cry from his once-held billionaire status.
Following Ye’s removal from Forbes’ billionaires list in October 2022 after a slew of antisemitic remarks, the disgraced rapper was no longer at the top of the publication’s prestigious list.
According to Forbes, the Adidas/Yeezy collaboration was worth around $1.5 billion at its peak; without that deal, Kanye’s net worth dropped to $400 million — and that was before the collapse of several other ventures in his name.
Sportswear giant Adidas struggled with what to do with the approximately $1.3 billion in remaining Yeezy stock after severing ties with Yeezy himself.
The company announced in May that it would sell off the already-manufactured product and donate a “significant amount” of the revenue to “selected organizations working to combat discrimination and hate, including racism and antisemitism.” The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change are among those organizations.
But Bloomberg reports that Kanye West is entitled to 11 percent of each Yeezy product sold, regardless of the dissolution of that partnership. As a result, Adidas might be handing Ye around $143 million if it successfully unloads all its inventory.
Meanwhile, Kanye now has access to a previously-frozen Yeezy-brand bank account containing around $75 million. Last month, Adidas abruptly dropped a case against West that started in late 2022 to recover some of its losses from the partnership dissolution.
Adidas maintains that it is entitled to that money. Still, a federal judge overturned the freeze on West’s account due to “Adidas’ failure to file a motion to confirm,” nullifying the previously green-lit order.
Though the judge overturned the court order, the arbitration process is still ongoing, and Adidas will continue to argue that it is the rightful owner of the capital in question. The judge has left things open for further requests to freeze Yeezy accounts and assets as the case continues.
Adidas has resumed selling off its remaining Yeezy stock, with multiple variations of the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 going on sale for $230 a pair.