Kanye West designed his first shoe for Adidas way back in 2006. He then formed a partnership with Nike that produced several popular shoes, notably the "Red October" Air Yeezy 2s. Looking to form a Michael Jordan-esque long term performance-based partnership, Kanye asked Nike to switch from an endorsement deal to a royalty deal. Nike declined.
That was a mistake.
Adidas was laying in wait, ready to scoop Yeezy up with the royalty deal of his dreams. The Yeezy 1 debuted in February 2015.
Fast forward five years and the Yeezy/Adidas partnership has generated AT LEAST $2.6 billion in cumulative gross revenue in 2017, 2018 and 2019 alone. In 2020 the brand is projected to generate $1.7 billion. By 2025 Yeezy is projected to generate $3 billion in revenue.
If current projections are accurate, Yeezy will have have generated $20 billion in revenue between 2017 and 2026. Not bad for a company that by that point will still be less than a decade old. For context, Adidas, which was founded in 1949, generated $26 billion in 2019.
How did the switch from endorsement to royalty work out for Mr. West?
In 2015 Kanye's net worth was $175 million. Up to that point in his career, he had earned a total of $200 million (pre-tax) from his various endeavors (mainly music, concerts and merchandise).
Kanye earned $100 million in 2019.
As of this writing, Kanye isn't just a billionaire. He's a multi-billionaire. We estimate that
Kanye West's net worth is $3.2 billion.