Thursday, August 03, 2023


Adidas sells £344m worth of Yeezy stock

Sales of Yeezy's generated around €400million from April to June this year

Adidas donated €10million in the second quarter


By DANIEL FESSAHAYE
 3 August 20

Adidas generated around €400million (£344million) in sales of Yeezy stock in the second quarter as the sportswear giant attempts to rid itself of the brand.

It was the first release of Yeezy goods after the group in October cut ties with designer Ye, the rapper previously known as Kanye West, over his antisemitic comments as Adidas attempts to offload unsold shoes.

The group, which plans to donate part of Yeezy proceeds to anti-hate groups, showed signs of a turnaround in the three months to June with sales better than expected as the company revealed plans to 'build a business without Yeezy'.


Adidas dropped Kanye 'Ye' West after the rapper launched several anti-semitic attacks back in October last year




The €400million generated in the second quarter was better than expected which helped the company reduce its estimated loss for the year to €450million from its previous estimation of €700million

Yeezy sales helped the company reduce its estimated loss for the year to €450million from its previous estimation of €700million.

Although Yeezy stocks have helped the group narrow its projected full-year loss, Adidas executives played down expectations for the next releases.

Bjørn Gulden, CEO of Adidas, told reporters on a call: 'Our task now is to limit the damage, get rid of the inventory, use the proceeds to (do) good stuff, and then build a business without Yeezy.'

The rapper's $220million annual deal with the German sports brand, which is worth $1.5billion in total, was terminated back last October after his controversial behaviour.

West has claimed he lost $2billion in a single day as multiple companies severed ties with the rapper.




A statement that Adidas released last year stating that it had terminated its contract with West with immediate effect

Gulan said in a statement: 'We are happy with the way the second quarter developed. The core adidas business was slightly better than we expected. Although we still have too much slow-moving inventory in the market, sell-through has been improving.


'We will continue to carefully sell off more of the existing Yeezy inventory.'

Adidas donated €10million in the second quarter and set aside €100million for further donations to charities including the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and the Anti-Defamation League.

Gulan added: 'This is much better than destroying and writing off the inventory and allows us to make substantial donations to organizations like the Anti-Defamation League, the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change and Robert Kraft's Foundation to Combat Antisemitism.

'And it is of course also helping both our cash flow and general financial strength.'

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