Kanye West Was Once $53 Million in Debt and Begged for Mark Zuckerberg’s Help

Have you ever been so desperate that you asked for a person’s help on social media for all the world to see? If yes, then you are not alone.

Remember three years ago when Kanye West – yup, the better half of Kim Kardashian – took to Twitter to ask Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion in him because he had a $53-million debt? This made headlines, along with other controversial tweets, that reeked despair, all hinting his financial woes.

Desperate Times

Kanye then urged his fans and followers to help get his message to Mark, asking them to do whatever they could to reach him. Apart from the Facebook creator, the rapper also sought the attention of Larry Page, Alphabet Inc. CEO, to answer his financial needs.

The Gold Digger hitmaker, however, never got his $1-billion request but he did become friends with the 35-year-old tech expert as evidenced by their karaoke session.

The rapper asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to invest in him

In three years, Kanye has picked himself up from the rubble – from his $53-million debt claims, he is now earning a whopping $150 million pre-tax. How did he do it? The answer is his successful deal with Adidas, that helped the brand increase its sales by $1.5 billion this year.

We’re pretty sure you have heard of his brand’s name but the shoes come with a steep price tag that only the fashion industry’s who’s-who and the affluent can afford.

The 42-year-old designer has worked his way through negotiations as it was reported that he gets 15 percent royalties for the wholesale price of the shoes on top of the marketing fees, you can definitely say he inked an awesome deal with the German shoe brand.

To put this amount into perspective, NBA superstar Michael Jordan’ssneakers line with Adidas’ rival Nike generates about $3 billion per year, but he only receives 5 percent royalties.

Michael Jordan only gets 5 percent in royalties for his sneakers line with Nike

It is worth noting, however, that Yeezy is Kanye’s own brand which he started in 2013 after striking a deal with Adidas, but it took the artist another two years before he launched his first design.

Despite the delay, his $350-Yeezy Boost 750 Light Brown rubber shoes sold out in 10 minutes, but this was just the start of his success. He followed the first launch with the Yeezy Boost 350 and 700 and Yeezy 950, which cost from $300 to $585.

Key to Kanye’s Success

As you can see, this is an illustration of how you can turn your fate around. Kanye’s secret for this impressive comeback? His Christian faith and his bipolar disorder diagnosis that he calls his “superpower,” which he said was the reason for unlocking his creativity.

But mostly, he credits the turnaround to being a natural “product guy.” The father of four shares that he loves problem-solving, one that involves making products that will spark joy among people’s lives as well as items that can help solve their issues.

Kim Kardashian expressed pride in how her husband rose again

Kim is extremely proud of her husband and shared that she saw how the rapper worked hard for his products. The KKW Beauty mogul also hinted that she wasn’t surprised at all that Kanye was able to turn his debts into profits in just a few years because she saw the man pour his heart out onto his creations.