Kanye West Becomes The Richest Black Person In US History With $6.6bn

With 22 Grammy wins, 140 million album/single sales and countless world tours, Kanye West is objectively one of the best musicians of all time. With a booming sneaker and apparel business, he is also one of the most successful and wealthy celebrities on the planet. 

And with two new massive business valuations, we have new accolade for his resume: Kanye West is now officially the richest black person in US history.

Last April we learned for the first time that Kanye West was a billionaire after new details about the impressive success of his Yeezy brand were made public. Actually, not just a billionaire, but a multi-billionaire. At that point we estimated that Kanye West's net worth was $3.2 billion.

With some new information that was revealed today, we are now updating our estimate of Kanye's personal fortune.

According to new valuations prepared by investment bank UBS, Kanye's sneaker/apparel partnership with Adidas is worth between $3.2 billion and $4.7 billion. Kanye owns 100% of the Yeezy brand, so those valuations go straight to his bottom line. Furthermore, according to UBS, his partnership with The Gap is worth $1 billion.

With these new valuations, we are prepared to announce the following:

The Richest Black Person In US History

At $6.6 billion, Kanye West is now the richest Black person in American history.

He leapfrogs from fourth place to first place, surpassing Oprah Winfrey's $3.5 billion net worth, David Steward's $3.9 billion net worth and Robert F. Smith's $6.5 billion. Michael Jordan is now the fifth-richest Black person in the US, with a net worth of $2.2 billion.

By our count, Kanye West is the third richest celebrity in the world, behind only Steven Spielberg ($7 billion) and George Lucas ($10 billion).