Kanye West and Jamaican-Canadian Businessman Michael Lee Chin are tied on the Forbes’ 36th-annual ranking of the planet’s richest people—a list that is 87 fewer than a year ago. The 2022 list of Billionaires listed both West and Lee-Chin at no. 1513.
Kanye, now known as Ye, entered the Forbes list of billionaires in 2021 after making lucrative deals with Adidas and GAP taking his net-worth north of 1 billion. Kanye recently announced that he intends to end his ten-year contract with Gap prematurely, after unfavorable terms.
The official termination letter was sent by Ye’s lawyers Thursday September 16 at the same time Ye announced on Instagram that he will be opening a chain of Yeezy stores, starting in Atlanta and expanding across the U.S. and then the world.
He also said he planned to leave his existing partnership with Adidas when it expires in 2026, saying it is time for him to go it alone. “No more companies standing in between me and the audience.”
In addition to his e-commerce brand YeezySupply.com, West said he also intends to open physical Donda campuses that have schools, housing, retail products and farms.
Meanwhile Michael Lee-Chin who has been on the list since 2010 made his fortune investing in financial companies like Jamaica’s leading bank National Commercial Bank Jamaica and AIC Limited.
The Chinese descendant acquired AIC in 1987, when it had less than $1 million in assets under management.
Under Lee-Chin, 70, the Canada-based wealth management and mutual fund business managed more than $10 billion in assets by 2002. He holds a 60% stake in National Commercial Bank Jamaica, which now makes up the majority of his wealth. NCB Financial Group registered its highest quarterly result since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. For the second quarter ended March 2022, NCB made net profit of J$9.91 billion.
Elsewhere Caribbean beauty queen Rihanna 34, is continuing her path as youngest self-made billionaire in America- she came in at no. 1729 with a staggering net worth of USD 1.7 billion, up from 1.4 billion last year according to the Forbes list. Rihanna became America’s Richest Self-Made Woman in 2022, a title previously held by Kylie Jenner, the makeup mogul, whose current net worth stands at USD 600 million.
Rihanna thrives on several business ventures. She is a Fenty Beauty co-owner and holds a 30% stake in her brand, Savage x Fenty lingerie.
Tesla founder Elon Musk tops the World’s Billionaires list for the first time with a net-worth of $219 billion. In all America leads the world, with 735 billionaires worth a collective $4.7 trillion. China (including Macau and Hong Kong) remains at number two, with 607 billionaires worth a collective $2.3 trillion. Forbes uses stock prices and exchange rates from March 11, 2022 to calculate net worths.
For daily updated net worths of all 2,668 billionaires, check out our real-time billionaires rankings.
