Kanye West Claims He Makes ‘More Money on Shoes’ Than Michael Jordan

He’s almost certainly full of it.

Adam K. Raymond

Apr 25, 2018

Kanye West sure is making up for lost time on Twitter.

Nearly two weeks after ending his year-long hiatus from the social media platform, he’s already created a political controversy and set the music world ablaze with a slew of announcements.

Now, he’s talking sneakers. On Wednesday, Kanye fired off a series of tweets promoting his uber-popular Yeezys. It was the typical self-aggrandizing stuff one expects from ‘Ye.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989157843214286848 https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989158083203973120 https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989158715868643329

But it also included a shot at Michael Jordan, the original shoe God.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/989151098324697088

Fact check time!

Kanye’s claim appears, at first blush, to be total bullshit. Jordan Brand brought in a whopping $3.1 billion in revenue in 2017. It was only in September of last year that Adidas, as an entire company, overtook Jordan in U.S. market share.

https://twitter.com/NPDMattPowell/status/909841685852561408

The idea that Kanye is raking in as much cash is hard to accept on its face. The Yeezys may be popular, but Jordan Brand is ubiquitous. So, what do the experts say? Retail analyst John Kernan tells GQ that there’s also no chance Kanye is telling the truth.

I asked John Kernan, a retail analyst who covers Adidas for Cowen, if somehow it was possible that Kanye was making more than Jordan, he replied bluntly: “No.” Then added, “I’m not sure what the economics are for [Jordan] at Nike, and I don’t know what Kanye’s economics are but it’s hard for me to believe it’s anywhere near what Nike’s on the hook for with Jordan.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbPdpckl2nt

Sneaker News has a similar take.

As of last June, he $110 million haul was more than triple that of the next highest paid athlete, which is LeBron James. While the numbers behind Kanye West’s thriving YEEZY business aren’t known, there is absolutely no chance that YEEZY is earning him a $100 million+ check per year simply because they don’t put enough shoes in production to earn that type of margin.

If he’s so self-evidently full of shit, what’s Kanye up to here? It’s hard to guess at the motivations of a guy who’s so utterly unpredictable, but here’s one thing that’s clear: Kanye needs to take his own advice.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/986624649311088642