Kanye West’s relationship with Adidas has finally come to an end after weeks of pressure from groups who believe West’s latest rants have crossed the line. The historically controversial rapper has come for the wrong group, and they are making sure all his business relationships come tumbling down. Adidas was the first company everyone was looking at, and they got some flack for dragging their feet on a statement. Now that they’ve officially cut ties, we are finding out just how much this decision affected them, making it make more sense now why they held off for a bit before making a choice.
The end of Kanye’s relationship with Adidas marks the end of his billionaire status. West has worked really hard over the years to become a billionaire and made sure everyone was aware of it in interviews since accomplishing it. Last year alone, the partnership generated $2 billion in sales for West and Adidas. Unfortunately, Adidas accounted for a large chunk of his fortune. With the sneaker giant no longer paying West royalties for their shoe collaborations, his wealth is scheduled to plummet to around $400 million.
Meanwhile, Adidas is also scheduled to lose a great deal of money. In the weeks before they released a statement, the shoe giant was already taking a hit in sales from people who decided to no longer purchase their extensive catalog of sneakers and footwear with Ye. Their stock plummeted, showing a 15% drop at the top of this week alone. Adidas was getting pressure from groups who reminded the public of the German company’s ties to Nazis via its founders. Their stock dropped another 3% yesterday following the news of the company dropping Kanye West.
Fans flooded their IG account saying things like “Your silence is deafening” and “Address the neoN@zi propaganda coming out of your spokesperson.” Long-time supporters threatened to no longer purchase sneakers from them, saying, “I’ve been a true Adidas head for years, but I can no longer support you guys. Your lack of a statement denouncing antisemitism speaks volumes.”
Finally, Adidas decided to publicly make a statement letting people know they would be ending their brand partnership with Kanye. Sneaker retailers like Foot Locker reported immediate demand to remove all Yeezy’s off the sale floors. This move is rumored to set the company back $246 million in its fourth quarter, right ahead of the Christmas holiday rush.
In addition to this, Adidas is also facing issues in its Chinese market that will be driving sales down as well. Insiders estimate that once Adidas is done dealing with all this backlash in 2023, they will be down a whopping $650 Million. Meanwhile, stock at Nike is up in the wake of this fiasco. It’s unclear how this whole thing will affect Adidas’ partnerships with other rappers, including Pharrell, Quavo, and Tennis player Stan Smith. All of their lines are still available on Adidas’ official site, with no word on if they will also be looking to distance themselves from the sneaker giant or if Adidas might be looking to stray away from celebrity partnerships going forward.
Many fans are speculating this was Kanye West’s plan all along. The rapper has been unhappy for a very long time with his partnerships and wanted out. Some would also argue the idea of Kanye West masterminding a $1 billion net loss sounds unbelievable. Either way, only time will tell.
