Kanye West on business: what the evidence says · JRE #1554
SUBJECT: BUSINESS
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
Now, I think is worth thirty three, thirty five billion dollars, and now they have another Steve Jobs, you know, Howard Hughes, Henry Ford, Disney, Elon kind of character within their midst.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Kanye West, in an interview recorded around October 2020, stated Universal Music Group (UMG) was then worth $33-35 billion. An SEC filing from Tencent Music Entertainment, dated March 31, 2020, confirms a Tencent-led consortium completed acquisition of a 10% equity stake in UMG from parent Vivendi at an enterprise value of EUR 30 billion for 100% of UMG's share capital, with an option to buy a further 10% stake at the same valuation through January 2021 (later exercised). At prevailing 2020 EUR/USD exchange rates, EUR 30 billion converts to roughly $33-35 billion, matching the figure Kanye cited and contemporaneous with the podcast's recording. UMG's valuation later rose substantially, reaching about $39 billion ahead of its September 2021 Amsterdam IPO and roughly $53-54 billion on its IPO debut, but at the time of this statement the figure aligns with the publicly disclosed valuation from the primary corporate filing.