Rapper Kanye West said he would “walk away” from the Adidas and Gap deals during his first campaign event in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian could find themselves waging a financial war between themselves in the event of a divorce.
Forbes named West a billionaire in April based on his stake in Yeezy and while West, 43, had an estimated value in the neighborhood of around $ 100 million when the public couple married in 2014, Kardashian, 39, He has also increased his wealth significantly in the years since his fortune grew from about $ 30 million in 2014 to an estimated value of $ 370 million last summer, according to Forbes.
Last month, Forbes reported that Kardashian earned $ 49.5 million in 2019, ranking her 48th on her list of the most celebrity winners.
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Most of Kardashian’s wealth comes from his hugely popular cosmetics and fragrance company KKW Beauty, an entity that generated around $ 100 million in sales in 2019.
Kim Kardashian (Fake Images) (Getty)
The reality TV star also launched his inclusive underwear brand Skims in 2019, and that asset raised $ 5 million in venture capital from Imaginary Ventures. The social media expert could generate up to $ 1 million for a single social media post, in addition to the TV and mobile gaming revenue she brings.
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Depending on whether Kardashian and West have a prenuptial agreement, a divorce could divide the couple’s individual fortunes or allow them to leave with what they came to the marriage with, says high-powered family attorney Sherri Sharma, a fellow at Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan. in New York City.
“First of all, I would be surprised if they both did not have a keen interest in having a prenuptial agreement because they both came to the table with significant wealth,” Sharma, who is neither party’s legal adviser, told FOX Business at Friday. “But assuming they had a prenup, it would address financial problems and greatly simplify how the assets were divided in a divorce.”
Kanye West. (AP Photo / Michael Wyke, File) (AP Photo / Michael Wyke, File)
“What the prenuptial agreement would likely provide to people with their type of financial situation is that everything they came into marriage with, regardless of the assets they had in their name at the time, would go away and, as long as they continued acquiring assets or growing your business during marriage, all of that would be off the table. “
West has always wanted to design and develop eccentric properties.
In a 2018 interview with radio host and mixed content producer Charlamagne The God, in which the couple toured the Calabasas, California, residence recently built by West and Kardashian, the rapper and fashion mogul promised ” to be one of the greatest real estate developers of all time, like what Howard Hughes is to airplanes and what Henry Ford was to automobiles. “
According to Business Insider, West and Kardashian own multiple properties, including a $ 14 million ranch in Cody, Wyo., And a house in Hidden Hills, California, which they allegedly bought for $ 20 million before spending another $ 20 million on renovations, among others. .
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Kardashian and West’s sprawling real estate provides insight into how those assets could be divided if they ever dissolve their marriage and given California marriage laws, depending on how those properties are titled, Sharma said that “community property” might have Leaves path variables for assignment.
“Probably in most prenuptial agreements to the extent that you place a property in joint names; I know they have acquired real estate, but we don’t know how it is titled or held in some kind of LLC for privacy reasons, but depending On how it is titled, it could be that certain assets acquired during the marriage would be considered ‘marital property’ in New York and California, it would be ‘community property’ that would be divided equally, “Sharma explained.
“So it would really create a roadmap for how they would divide everything they have in each of their names and what they have acquired,” Sharma continued. “It would be very simple. And it would also address the issue of spousal support. I am sure they will both give it up because neither of them needs it.” [a prenup] it would not address any of the custody issues. “
However, in the event that the pair could not come to an agreement on how to offload or divide the property, they could be looking at a painstaking process to determine how to dispose of such a valuable asset.
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“If they have a prenuptial agreement, it will govern how the property is divided, regardless of where it is located, and it will simplify it,” Sharma said, adding that “even if they don’t have a prenuptial agreement, what is most relevant where Divorce occurs, which in your case would be in California and would mean a 50-50 asset split. “
Sharma said: “That is another potentially complicated factor because, depending on the nature of the asset, if it is real estate, for example, if they cannot agree on who will keep it and who will buy from the other person, it is sold. If one of They want to keep the property, they have to agree on a value. So they have to evaluate it and that is a complete process that also takes time. “
Sharma said such cases are common when divorcing couples negotiate the division that would be considered their primary residence in case they don’t want to displace their children: West and Kardashian share four: daughters North, 7, and Chicago, from 2, and children. Saint, 4 and Psalm, 14 months.
“If they own their primary residence and don’t want the kids to move somewhere else, then maybe Kim would say, I’m going to buy Kanye,” Sharma said. “Obviously, they have assets where they can both afford equally nice places, so it’s not really a problem. But divorce is difficult enough for children, and especially at that young age, you want to stay as consistent as possible. So that’s what they would do. “
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As for Kardashian’s KKW Beauty and Skims girdle brand, Sharma said the division of those entities would vary under the terms of a prenuptial agreement and could take into account the value West could have provided if it had helped Kardashian launch its companies or consulted Kardashian in any way.
“This is really an interesting distinction, I think, between California and New York,” said the litigator. “But, as I understand it, they would be decided the same as all the other assets in California. So in the sense that if the prenuptial governed him, he would go to Kim because a prenuptial agreement says that every asset in his name is his, even if he grew up. ”
Sharma pressed: “Suppose Kanye was involved since he is also in fashion and maybe he was advising her since she was consulting in some way; my understanding is that it can generally increase the percentage someone is entitled to. This is how it would work, at least in some states. ”
“And in New York and California, it could be that regardless of what they did, it doesn’t matter if you contributed anything, you get half, even if it’s all from it. That is messy because similar to the real estate we were discussing, it has to be bought. And with a company, it’s obviously more complicated than the real estate sector, so it needs to be valued and would require revealing many financial documents and hiring a valuation expert to assign you a number. ”
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Sharma also suggested that Kardashian could negotiate with West on a game plan that argues that his line of Skims may not be working as well given the strong competition in the market and the fact that the coronavirus has wreaked havoc on many companies.
“If Skims is not a public company, that makes it much more difficult to value,” he explained. “If it was a narrow company, they would have to find out a number and she would have to pay her. And obviously she is going to want it to be a higher number and she is going to say that the business is not working at all and that there are all these competitors and it is COVID, etc. “
“She wants to minimize it and they will get their own expert and each valuation expert will have a different value and then they will find themselves in the middle,” Sharma added.
In terms of the debts the couple incurred during the course of their marriage, they would be considered a liability of the marriage “and generally in a prenuptial agreement, it would also say that if you acquired it personally, it is yours,” Sharma said.
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“So, let’s say you have a debt to your business or something, that would be yours. And then if they jointly owned their home and had a mortgage, which I’m sure they don’t have, but if they did, they would both have to pay it. ”
But amid growing speculation from a looming division, Sharma anticipates that such a battle will happen cleanly, quickly, and quietly.
“You’d think that with the kind of wealth they both have, they would want to settle completely and not be litigating this and have dueling financial experts, but who knows?” she said. “It could also be that the financial situation and custody are not resolved separately. So even if they had a prenuptial agreement, which would make the division or financial assets very simple, that will not be done until Kanye can have any custody guarantees. ”
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“He could potentially drag him down depending on the terms of the prenuptial agreement.”
