dude realized how much he needs the money lol. dude really has no leverage to make *them* accept a royalty payment when theyre currently paying him one. adidas taking 20% instead of the 85% theyre taking from the venture now? yeah ok.
dude is just a celebrity pitchman who thinks hes running shit (or at least entitled to). but he has no board seats, no major equity in the public company, etc.
and hes def not rich enough to start his own thing. a significant part of his net worth is based on speculative valuations of the yeezy brand (instead of concrete valuations of something like public stock like bezos, musk, etc). this is the same reason there was so much debate as to how much kylie jenner is worth. because outside of the material/calculable royalty/licensing revenue...you can say the overall value of the brand is anything that sounds believable.
once he pulls away from adidas or gap...most of that goes up in flames. plus a lot of his own brands prestige is boosted by collaborations with bigger names.
he needs them more than they need him. hes done a lot in terms of keeping them culturally relevant. but these are global corporate entities that will continue to move right along with or without him.