Kanye West has talked himself into some serious money problems in recent weeks. Already known for his outlandish spending habits, West made things worst for himself when his social media rants got him dropped from several million dollar partnerships. West could be heading towards financial ruin soon, and fans are hoping to help him before he loses it all. Lets take a look at the deals he lost and his spending habits ahead of how fans are trying to help him recoup.
According to TMZ, Kanye’s spending has been getting out of hand despite losing massive amounts of money recently. He currently does not have a main hub to call home and has instead been living out of fancy hotels and rental properties for only a handful of days at a time. He also fronted thousands for his YEEZY fashion show in Paris and recently agreed to buy the defunct social media app Parlar. Parlar’s CEO is George Farmer, Candace Owens’s husband. On the same day he took the meeting to purchase the app, Adidas has announced plans to end their partnership with him and halt payments immediately.
West had already announced plans to part with Adidas and Gap well before his rant. He told Hulu back in September, “It’s fine. I made [both] companies money. The companies made me money. We created ideas that will change apparel forever.” He said he no longer wanted a company standing between him and the consumer. At the time, he was in bed with Adidas till 2026 and Gap till 2030. Now those relationships are dead. Gap did announcement that they owe West some money, but have halted production on their YeezyxGap line.
Kanye was paid $220 million in royalties last year from his sneaker partnership with Adidas. According to Forbes, leaving Adidas has compromised his billionaire status because a large part of his income came from the partnership. Forbes claims that “Losing the footwear giant [knocked] his fortune to well below $1 billion.”
Page Six is reporting that as of this week, 4 of Kanye’s 5 sources of income have been completely depleted, just leaving music. Kanye is said to have an album completed but currently no label in place to distribute it. With his die hard fanbase, an album release right now could create some revenue for West to help tie him over till he sorts though his finances in the next few months.
In addition to this, there are untold amount of lawsuits that could be brought up against West that will also destroy his income. Not only is George Floyd’s family planning to sue him for $250 million due to spreading misinformation, but he is also looking at possible lawsuits related to several of the companies that had to drop him because of his comments. The same source with Page Six said “Sources estimate that even though he has more than $100 million in the bank, he probably has enough to last a matter of ‘months.'”
Despite the rapper having a large amount of cash on hand, he also has large expenses including multiple mortgages. Live performances would be the easiest way for Kanye to bring in cash, however he’s beginning to have issues booking shows. Ye was scheduled to perform at the SoFi Stadium in LA on November 4th. The venue has canceled the show, and he doesn’t have any other shows booked at the moment.
Fans of West are eager to give him a helping hand and started a GoFundMe to support their hero through his self imposed spiral. “Make Kanye West a Billionaire Again” popped up on the site earlier this week with the goal of raising $1 billion dollars for West. The fundraiser only received a $5 donation before GoFundMe shut it down. This is not the first time fans tried to help Kanye with money. They raised over 50k for him in 2016 when he was facing bankruptcy.
