Report: Yes, Kanye West is a billionaire. But he's still not as rich as he says he is
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| Kanye West |
Kanye West has touted his billionaire status before — but now, the rapper is showing the receipts to prove it.
According to a report published Friday by Forbes, a publication known for calculating the net worth of celebrities, the world-famous rapper and fashion mogul has provided documents proving he is worth over $1 billion.
In a lengthy process that took into account West's debt, assets and expenses, Forbes calculated the rapper's net worth as close to $1.3 billion — $300 million more than his 22-year-old sister-in-law Kylie Jenner, whom the outlet hailed the world's youngest self-made billionaire in 2019 (She topped their 'youngest' list again in 2020.)
According to Forbes, the new findings came after backlash from West when he was not included in the magazine's annual billionaires list in March. Forbes reports the rapper shared documents with the outlet Thursday to set the record straight about his finances.
But the outlet says West is still bloating his net worth. Yes, he is a billionaire, but the rapper has insisted his wealth is much more than that.
“It’s not a billion,” West texted Forbes prior to publication, they report. “It’s $3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count.”
Also on Friday, Bloomberg reported that Yeezy, West's high-end sneaker line, was valued by Bank of America Corp. at $3 billion last year, before the fashion industry took a hard hit from the coronavirus pandemic.
All of this is Level 2,” West told Bloomberg. “It’s time to go to Level 3."
USA TODAY has reached out to West's rep for further comment.
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West memorably discussed his finances on Twitter in 2016, when he claimed to be "$53 million in personal debt" and made a public plea for Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion in him as the "greatest artist of all time."
A few hours after that, West was imploring his fans to subscribe to the Tidal streaming service to download The Life of Pablo, his seventh album.
Contributing: Maria Puente
Kanye West
