Worth over a billion euros
Adidas has solution for “Yeezy” leftover stocks
05/11/2023, 1:18 p.m
Give away, sell or destroy? The sporting goods giant struggled with what would happen to the remaining “Yeezys” after the end of the cooperation with the controversial rapper Kanye West. Now the Adidas boss is presenting an option of sale and donation.
Adidas now wants to market the billion-dollar remainders of the “Yeezy” shoes designed by scandal rapper Kanye West. The new Adidas boss Björn Gulden announced the provisional solution at the general meeting in Fürth today: The sporting goods company will sell parts of the goods and donate money to organizations that West has harmed with his statements. “Burning the goods is not the solution,” said Gulden.
Adidas canceled the contract with West, now called Ye, in October. This had repeatedly provoked, most recently with anti-Semitic statements. Since then, millions of “Yeezy” shoes with a sales value of 1.2 billion euros have been in stock, which have already been produced but whose sale has been put on hold. When and how the sale will start is open, said Gulden. “We’re working on these things.”
If the goods were sold, West would also be entitled to the agreed commission – according to media reports 15 percent of sales. The shoes recently cost several hundred euros – per pair. Gulden defended Adidas’ years of collaboration with the rapper – “as difficult as it was, but he is perhaps the most creative mind in our industry.” But it was also right to part with him.
Gift option discarded again
Shareholder representatives criticized Adidas’ long hesitation after West’s failures – allegedly also against Adidas employees. Janne Werning from the fund company Union Investment asked the chairman of the supervisory board, Thomas Rabe, to explain when the board of directors and the supervisory board first learned of these allegations. “What was missing was a quick decision,” said lawyer Ines Straubinger from the DSW shareholders’ association.
Gulden did not comment on the consequences of the decision to win: According to earlier information, if the sale of the “Yeezy” stocks were not made, 1.2 billion euros in sales and a profit of 500 million euros were at stake. In addition to selling or destroying the goods, Gulden had considered giving away the shoes. However, this was rejected because the goods would probably have reached the market in a roundabout way. At times, the “Yeezy” product line accounted for eight percent of Adidas’ sales and a large part of its profits.