Billy
Kanye West called Forbes to demand they call him a billionaire
Shaan's Billy of the Week: Kanye, upset he wasn't on the billionaire list, contacted Forbes claiming he was worth $3 billion and handed over his financials to prove it. Forbes verified he was a billionaire, but at $1 billion, not $3.
“It was Kanye telling Forbes, I'm a billionaire, write about me. And so the article was basically saying Kanye came to us. He was really upset that he was not on the billionaire list or something like that. He tells us he's worth $3 billion. And so, and then he gave us all his financials so that we could verify that he's worth it. They're like, you know, good news, he is a billionaire. Bad news, it's not $3 billion. We think he's worth $1 billion.”
Number
Yeezy did $1.3B in sales; Kanye's 11% royalty paid him $140M
Shaan breaks down the Forbes math: the Yeezy brand, owned 100% by Kanye but produced and distributed by Adidas, did $1.3 billion in sales in 2019, on which Kanye earns an 11% royalty worth $140 million.
$140M
Annual Yeezy royalty income to Kanye · USD/year
“So 2019, he did $1.3 billion in sales on the Yeezy brand, which is kind of insane actually, uh, that a rapper was able to sort of have a Jordan-esque brand there. He gets an 11% royalty, which is $140 million on that. So every pair of Yeezys, he gets 11%. He did $140 million last year.”
Number
Rev hit a $206M valuation with 50,000 workers and 150 employees
Rev.com disclosed on the Forbes AI list that its last valuation was $206 million. The company has 50,000 people working on the platform each month, has raised $31 million, and employs 150 people, more than half engineers.
$206M
Company valuation · USD
“We have 50,000 people who work on the platform, uh, each month. Uh, we've raised $31 million. We were on the Forbes AI list a few months ago and it said in there— there we disclosed for the first time that our last valuation was $206 million. We have 150 employees, more than half are engineers.”