Table of Contents
African-American billionaire Kanye West has announced the termination of the contract between his company, Yeezy, and Gap, a U.S. global clothing and accessories retailer.
West, who owns the entire Yeezy brand, which is worth $2.9 billion, stated that the decision to cut ties with Gap was made because the American clothing and accessories retailer failed to meet its obligations under the agreement, which included distributing Yeezy products in its stores by the second half of 2021 and opening dedicated Yeezy Gap stores.
Gap later made headlines for selling Yeezy products in its Times Square store, but the termination letter stated that those items were the result of a separate contract between Yeezy, Gap, and Balenciaga.
The news comes more than two years after Yeezy announced a retail partnership with Gap in June to launch Yeezy Gap, which will develop and deliver a new line of elevated basics for men, women, and children at affordable price points.
Wells Fargo predicted that the partnership between Gap and Yeezy would bring in about $1 billion in sales in its first year. As part of the deal, Gap, and Yeezy released fashionable items such as brightly colored hoodies in September 2021 and its first product, a blue puffy jacket, in June 2021.
While discussing his recent decision to end his contract with Gap, West added that he was unable to set the prices he desired for his products and that he did not approve of color selections. He also expressed dissatisfaction with the retailer’s progress in launching physical Yeezy stores.
Gap shares closed at $9.11 on Fri., Sept. 16, as a result of the recent development. This is 9.62-percent less than the stock’s weekly opening price on the New York Stock Exchange.
Due to persistent selling pressure from market participants, Gap’s shares have decreased by more than 50 percent since the year the start of this year.
West, on the other hand, has seen his net worth rise by more than $200 million since 2021, from $1.8 billion to $2 billion, making him one of the world’s 2,668 billionaires, with a combined wealth of $12.7 trillion, according to data retrieved from U.S. business magazine Forbes.
