Adidas is now facing a loss after severing ties with Kanye West, as unsold Yeezy products has put the corporation in a financial bind. With over a million pairs of the popular unsold sneakers sitting in warehouses, the company has chosen to liquidate the remaining stock and donate the revenues to charity.
According to Fortune, Adidas CEO Björn Gulden informed investors at the annual shareholders meeting that the business will sell the product and contribute the proceeds to non-governmental organizations that support them as well as organizations affected by Ye’s anti-Semitic remarks last year.
After deliberating on how to dispose of the products, they rejected one offered solution: burning them.
“What we are trying to do over time is to sell parts of these goods and then donate to organizations that help us, and that also have been hurt by Kanye’s statements,” Gulden stated to the investors at the meeting held in Fuerth, Germany. He continued, “Burning is not the solution.”
After being in a successful business relationship with Ye for nearly 10 years, since 2013, Adidas cut ties with the controversial music producer after he made anti-semitic statements.
They called his bluff shortly after those statements were recorded.
According to BBC News, the Chicago rapper will continue to get royalties from sales under the rules of the agreement. Adidas shares were also reported to be up 2% when news of the sale of the remaining stake surfaced.
After five years of doing business together, the corporation recently severed ties with Beyoncé and her Ivy Park label.In February, it was announced that Ivy Park’s sales had decreased by 50%. In 2021, the clothing line made $93 million, but the next year, the brand only made $40 million.
