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The company also reiterated it owns the designs to all products it created in partnership with Ye and that it plans to potentially release more in 2023. On November 9, Adidas announced quarterly earnings and halved its earnings forecast for the year, citing the end of the Yeezy partnership and continuing challenges in China. Gulden is known for his work with celebrities like Rihanna and Jay-Z, but he'll have his work cut out for him, given Adidas' unique challenges in the wake of the Ye split. On November 8, Adidas confirmed in a statement that its new CEO will be Bjørn Gulden, a former top executive at Puma. Retailers, including Foot Locker, also pulled Yeezy products per Adidas' request. It also pulled remaining Yeezy products from shelves. In a statement, Adidas said it expected its bottom line to take a $247 million hit for the year. The German sportswear giant would eventually terminate its deal with Ye on October 25, saying it "does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech." The meeting in which Adidas executives decided to cut ties with Ye lasted just two minutes, Bloomberg reported. Now what? Now what?"Īdidas had explicit ties to Germany's Nazi party in the past. I can say antisemitic things, and Adidas can't drop me. Days later, Twitter and Instagram closed Ye's accounts after he posted antisemitic remarks.Īs Adidas began to face mounting public pressure to drop Ye, the rapper told hosts of the "Drink Champs" podcast, "The thing about me and Adidas is like, I can literally say antisemitic s**t, and they can't drop me. Ye also sparked outrage after he wore a "White Lives Matter" T-shirt on October 3 during Paris Fashion Week.
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Ye in Los Angeles on October 14, 2022, shortly before Adidas terminated his contract.Īdidas announced its relationship with Kanye West was under review after a series of public comments the rapper made against the company. He noted that for Adidas and its competitors, China remains a bigger problem than any single endorsement deal because Western brands are falling out of favor with Chinese consumers. "Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.ĭavid Swartz, a Morningstar analyst, called the end of the deal significant but said that the long-term impact on the brand is less clear, given Adidas owns its Yeezy designs and the company remains more of a sportswear than a streetwear brand. "Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech," the company said. Adidas cut ties with him on October 25 and said it would immediately bring the Yeezy business to a halt, with the company expecting its bottom line to take a $247 million hit for the year.
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In February 2021, the financial-services company UBS projected sales would hit $2 billion for the year and would continue climbing, according to an internal document viewed by Insider.īut Ye's partnership ultimately ended last month after the artist made repeated antisemitic comments. Despite the turbulence, Adidas Yeezy sales continued to grow.
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