Forbes has pushed back against the claim that rapper Kanye West is worth a whopping $6.6 billion.
In an article published earlier today (March 18), Forbes’ Madeline Berg dismissed the estimation of West’s net worth at $6.6 billion as “magical thinking around sales that don’t exist yet.”
According to Berg, West is currently worth less than one-third of that value.
UBS Group estimated that West’s Yeezy brand was worth billions, according to Bloomberg
Bloomberg had reported on March 17 that a report by the banking institution, UBS Group AG, estimated that West’s Yeezy brand — in partnership with Gap Inc. and Adidas AG — was worth between $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion.
The Yeezy Gap brand alone “could be worth as much as $970 million,” Bloomberg reported, citing the UBS Group report.
West also reportedly has $122 million in cash and stock, a music catalog valued at $110.5 million, and “other assets” worth $1.7 billion.
The figures that Bloomberg listed added up to around $6.6 billion.
Kanye West is not the richest black man in the U.S., Forbes insists
According to Forbes, West is not the richest black man in America as some news outlets have claimed.
Based on their calculations, the website has now explained that West is worth only about $1.8 billion, less than one-third of the estimated $6.6 billion.
Forbes’ breakdown of the total of $1.8 billion includes an estimated value of $1.5 billion for the rapper’s Yeezy brand, cash and assets valued at $160 million, a music catalog worth $90 million, and a stake in Kim Kardashian’s Skim worth $64 million.
Forbes’ latest estimate of West’s worth comes after the website announced back in April 2020 that West had officially become a billionaire, and was worth $1.3 billion.
At the time, West contested Forbes’ estimation of his net worth at the time, claiming he was worth about $3.3 billion.
Forbes’ current estimate of $1.8 billion still represents a significant leap of half-a-billion dollars in West’s net worth since Forbes’ April 2020 report.
UBS Group’s estimate of West’s worth was based on projections, according to Forbes
Forbes alleged that the “sky-high estimate” of West’s net worth is “the latest of West’s attempts to inflate his net worth.”
The website said that West had in the past accused Forbes of “purposely snubbing me,” but, according to Berg, they were not “snubbing” West.
Berg explained that the “sky-high” estimate of West’s worth, derived from UBS Group’s report, was only “assumptions based on projections of future earnings.”
The projected earnings for Yeezy Gap have not been realized so it was wrong to say that West is worth $6.6 billion.
“Bank documents like this are well-known for painting best-possible-scenario future valuations,” Berg wrote.
The writer added that their estimate that West is worth $1.8 billion was based on “current revenues—not theoretical future expectations.”
Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote is the richest Black person alive
Forbes went on to report that contrary to the claim that West is the richest Black American, Vista Equity’s Robert F. Smith is actually the richest Black person in the U.S.
Smith is worth $6 billion, according to Forbes.
The website added that Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, who is worth $11.8 billion, is the richest black person in the world.
West supports Trump. That targets him for the most disgusting attack on free speech that comes from the Democrats.