BERLIN, Oct 30 — Adidas said yesterday it had reached an amicable agreement with US rapper Kanye West to end all legal proceedings between them, without any money being exchanged.
The German sportswear giant had been locked in a dispute with the artist, who now goes by the name Ye, since they cut ties in 2022 after allegations of anti-Semitism against him.
“There (aren’t) any more open issues and there is no… money going either way,” Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden told reporters on a conference call, without giving any details of the agreement.
“There were tensions on many issues (but) … both parties said we don’t need to fight any more,” Gulden said.
Adidas and West launched a business deal in 2014 after the rapper ended his affiliation with Nike.
The partnership was one of the most successful sportswear tie-ups in history and the resulting Yeezy range went on to help make West a billionaire.
Ending the partnership in 2022 left Adidas with unwanted Yeezy stock worth some 1.2 billion euros including shoes and other goods.
Adidas has been selling its huge inventory of Yeezy products in batches and donating the proceeds to NGOs, including a foundation launched by the company itself in March to support anti-discrimination initiatives.
The remaining Yeezy stocks will be sold by the end of 2024, the company said.
Gulden said the drama with West “belongs to the past”, speaking as he presented the company’s third-quarter results, already made public earlier in October.
Between July and September, Adidas sales totalled 6.4 billion euros ($7 billion), a seven-percent increase on the same period last year.
Adidas said it had increased its financial guidance for the year “to reflect the better-than-expected performance during the quarter and the current brand momentum”.
Gulden said the company had managed to boost its sales with other lucrative shoe collections, such as the Samba, Gazelle and Campus ranges. — AFP
