A series of anti-semetic marks made by West in interviews and via social media caused Adidas to formally end their partnership with Yeezy in October 2022. The financial cost of this decision was detrimental to both parties. The split knocked off €1.2 billion in annual sales for Adidas, and also €500 million in operating profits. West claimed he personally lost $2 billion in one day after he was dropped by multiple companies in 2022.
Nobody owes anybody anything anymore. So whatever was is history
The economic fallout was the main factor behind the legal proceedings that had been ongoing for two years, post-termination of the Adidas-Yeezy contract.
Adidas’ Chief Executive Bjorn Gulden has confirmed, “there is no money going either way”. He continued on to say, “Nobody owes anybody anything anymore. So whatever was is history”.
The original plan for Adidas was to destroy all remaining Yeezy stock however, Gulden joined as CEO in 2023 and decided to change the direction of the company. The new plan is to sell the remaining €1 billion of Yeezy stock by the end of 2024, and donate a percentage of those profits to charity.
Adidas has now recovered from the economic loss of parting with Yeezy. Between July and September 2024 Adidas sales totaled €6.4 billion ($7 billion), a 7% increase on the same period the previous year.
Gulden has credited the boost in sales to successful campaigns from the Samba, Gazelle, and Campus shoe collections.
