Kanye West is known for making his share of investments – whether he’s starting up a school or even getting into the porn industry. During the past few years, the polarizing entertainer (who’s supposedly retired from rap) also purchased a home in Malibu. The 47-year-old star shelled out $57.3 million bucks to land it and, now, he’s sold the pad for only $21 million. So why did West leave $36 million on the table in order to dump his former abode. Well, let’s discuss the wild reason for that.
When Ye bought the house back in 2021, he reportedly had big plans for the place. Us Weekly reports that the “Gold Digger” rapper had a desire to essentially gut the house and eventually renovate it. That plan – which followed the star’s Donda success – was seen as being controversial at the time, given that the home was designed by acclaimed architect Tadao Ando. In time, though, the Grammy winner forsook his idea for the remodeling.
Here’s where the wild part comes in. Kanye West put the house back on the market this past January, even though the location remained gutted. On top of that, he and his realtor also attached a price tag of $53 million to it. Ultimately, West didn’t receive any feelers, which resulted in him having to sell the place for $21 million. The house was purchased by Belwood Investments, which is a California-based crowdfunding firm that’s been flipping homes since 2018. Steven “Bo” Belmont – the company’s founder and owner – shared a statement in a press release (via Us Weekly), reacting to the acquisition:
We are incredibly excited about the acquisition of this property. This is not just a phenomenal real estate investment; it is an opportunity to revitalize and preserve an architectural gem by the renowned Tadao Ando, ensuring it remains a jewel of Malibu. This acquisition exemplifies Belwood Investments’ commitment to transforming properties with historical and architectural significance while delivering exceptional returns for our investors.
At this point, what Belwood Investments plans to do is crowd-fund $5 million in order to restore the house accordingly. From there, the group will proceed to resell the house for $40 million. The statement from Steven Belmont definitely seems to indicate that he and his colleagues have an appreciation for architecture.
Kanye West’s loss of cash on his investment comes after he’s already experienced a number of other financial setbacks. After making antisemitic remarks in late 2022, West was dropped by Adidas and a number of his other business partners like Vogue and Balenciaga. The rapper himself even admitted that he’d been “beat to a pulp” from a cash-flow standpoint.
It should still be noted, however, that the “Heartless” performer still reportedly has a net worth of $400 million. So, with that in mind, he doesn’t seem to be severely strapped for cash. Nevertheless, $36 million is a lot of cheddar, and it’d be easy to imagine that Kanye West still wouldn’t be all that money about losing tens of millions of dollars.
