Adidas said Wednesday it sold the last pair of Yeezys, a hugely popular and profitable sneaker brand that it developed alongside rapper and designer Ye.
The sportswear giant cut ties with ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and posted anti-Semitic comments on social media in 2022, making other offensive comments public. Adidas said that closing the nearly 10-year collaboration with American celebrities would cost 250 million euros that year.
The rapper apologised to the Jewish community in 2022 and retracted his apology in a barrage of social media posts that later declared him Nazi.
The sale of Adidas' remaining Yeezy inventory generated around EUR 50 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, increasing the company's overall revenue to EUR 59.7 billion, up 24% from the previous year, Adidas said on Wednesday in its revenue report.
However, sports brands have been cautious about their outlook, cutting their revenue growth forecast by 2025-10% in 2025 to 12% last year. The company said it was the first time the outlook did not include revenue from the Yeezy line.
This split felt the most difficult in North America, driven by the popularity of the Grammy-winning rapper. “North American sales fell 2% as Yeezy's sales fell sharply,” said Adidas, based in Herzogenaurach, Germany.
Bjorn Gulden, who became CEO in 2023, said the company will cut jobs at its headquarters to up to 500 people and move decision-making to offices around the world. “We need to reduce the complexity,” he said, making little sense for German employees to decide what was needed in the overseas market.
After finishing its relationship with YE, the apparel company struggled with slowing sales and revelation that had ignored the rapper's misconduct for many years. Also, the cut-off agreement left Adidas with a pile of sneakers and clothing, leaving behind a potential loss of 1.2 billion euros in revenue and around 500 million euros in profits last year.
Under Gulden, Adidas decided to sell the remaining Yeezy shares in 2023, instead of amortizing it, selling it and selling some of the profits to organizations such as the Anti-Liberal League and the Robert Kraft Foundation, to combat anti-Semitism.
On Wednesday, Garden hit an optimistic tone, showing the company's passion, focusing on new celebrities collaborations and other popular sneaker lines like Samba, a decades old brand that has revived popularity.
“There are all the challenges there, so don't forget there are so many fun things to look forward to in 2025,” Garden said.
Melissa Eddie contributed to the report from Berlin.
