--- title: Martin Shkreli Offers Kanye West $10 Million for New Album description: Martin Shkreli, the infamous "pharma bro" with an apparent penchant for unpopularity, wants to exclusively buy Kanye West's album canonical: https://time.com/4218426/martin-shkreli-kanye-west-life-of-pablo/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-11T22:55:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:01:09.030Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Martin Shkreli Wants to Buy Kanye's New Album for $10 Million og:description: "The College Dropout" inspired the "pharma bro" to succeed og:url: https://time.com/4218426/martin-shkreli-kanye-west-life-of-pablo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee910e798ac16b18/69887d4e3c1639599145bfe6/martin-shkreli-kanye-west.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: martin-shkreli-kanye-west og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Martin Shkreli Wants to Buy Kanye's New Album for $10 Million twitter:description: "The College Dropout" inspired the "pharma bro" to succeed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee910e798ac16b18/69887d4e3c1639599145bfe6/martin-shkreli-kanye-west.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Martin Shkreli Wants to Buy Kanye's New Album for $10 Million ## Video: TIME Raw: Drug CEO Martin Shkreli Invokes 5th Amendment at Congressional Hearing [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Drug CEO Martin Shkreli Invokes 5th Amendment at Congressional Hearing](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xBgVNFBO.m3u8) (1:43)  _Published 2016-02-04. Shkreli he testifies before Congress on drug prices_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 11, 2016 10:55 PM UTC  Martin Shkreli, center, former CEO Turing Pharmaceuticals, leaves a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on "methods and reasoning behind recent drug price increases," on Feb. 4. Martin Shkreli, center, former CEO Turing Pharmaceuticals, leaves a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on "methods and reasoning behind recent drug price increases," on Feb. 4.Tom Williams—CQ Roll Call/Getty  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 11, 2016 10:55 PM UTC Martin Shkreli, the infamous “pharma bro” with an apparent penchant for unpopularity, wants to exclusively buy Kanye West’s new album, _The Life of Pablo_. West [streamed the album](http://time.com/4218225/kanye-west-tlop-life-of-pablo-new-album-livestream/), which he has been heavily promoting on social media in recent weeks, live on Tidal Thursday night as part of his New York Fashion Week show. “I have been a tremendous fan of your music for many years,” Shkreli wrote in the letter, which he [posted to Twitter](https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/697897324329177088) on Thursday. “Specifically, ‘The College Dropout’ inspired me to succeed at a young age.” > [](https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/697897324329177088) Shkreli, who paid [$2 million last year for a Wu-Tang Clan album](http://fortune.com/2015/12/09/martin-shkreli-2-million-wu-tang-album/), asked West to sell the album to him for $10 million instead of releasing it to fans. “I believe you and your partners will find this financial arrangement more attractive than your current course of action,” he said. “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,” he [posted](https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/697897924353773573) later. Shkreli gained notoriety when he [boosted the price of an AIDS medication](http://time.com/4072535/martin-shkreli-aids-drug/) after acquiring the drug, and he most recently sparked controversy when he threatened to [erase rapper Ghostface Killah](http://time.com/4199579/martin-shkreli-ghostface-killah-video/) from the unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4218426/martin-shkreli-kanye-west-life-of-pablo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4218426/martin-shkreli-kanye-west-life-of-pablo/"},"headline":"Martin Shkreli Wants to Buy Kanye's New Album for $10 Million","datePublished":"2016-02-11T22:55:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:01:09.030Z","description":"\"The College Dropout\" inspired the \"pharma bro\" to succeed","url":"https://time.com/4218426/martin-shkreli-kanye-west-life-of-pablo/","keywords":["Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee910e798ac16b18/69887d4e3c1639599145bfe6/martin-shkreli-kanye-west.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee910e798ac16b18/69887d4e3c1639599145bfe6/martin-shkreli-kanye-west.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"martin-shkreli-kanye-west","caption":"UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 04: Martin Shkreli, center, former CEO Turing Pharmaceuticals, leaves a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in Rayburn Building on \"methods and reasoning behind recent drug price increases,\" after invoking his Fifth A","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ Roll Call/Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4218426/martin-shkreli-kanye-west-life-of-pablo/","name":"Martin Shkreli Wants to Buy Kanye's New Album for $10 Million"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Drug CEO Martin Shkreli Invokes 5th Amendment at Congressional Hearing","description":"Shkreli he testifies before Congress on drug prices","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xBgVNFBO/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-02-04T15:16:01.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xBgVNFBO.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4218426/martin-shkreli-kanye-west-life-of-pablo/","duration":"PT1M43S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4218426/martin-shkreli-kanye-west-life-of-pablo/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```