Martin Shkreli, former pharmaceutical CEO who gained infamy last year for raising the prices of a drug taken by HIV patients, has an offer he doesn’t think rapper Kanye West can refuse.
Shkreli is offering West and his record company $10 million for the new album, which West has been promoting for weeks through a series of increasingly bizarre tweets. The deal requires that only Shkreli get the album, with no broad release. As is his usual course of action, Shkreli announced his offer to the public on Twitter, including a tweet with a picture of the letter he claims he sent to West.
Here is my initial offer for the album. @kanyewest Thanks for your consideration and I look forward to your response pic.twitter.com/opJ7mlfraK
— Martin Shkreli (e/acc) (@MartinShkreli) February 11, 2016
Kanye and his label are legally required to take my offer letter to their Board of Directors. This should delay the album by a few days.
— Martin Shkreli (e/acc) (@MartinShkreli) February 11, 2016
This isn’t the first time he’s been in the news for his hip-hop dealings. He paid $2 million for the only copy of the Wu-Tang Clan record “Once Upon A Time in Shaolin” and has since gotten into a public spat with Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah.
It isn’t clear that Shkreli could actually pay the $10 million, as Gawker has reported he owes $4.5 million in unpaid taxes.