The expensive departure from the controversial rapper Kanye West and his “Yeezy” products has the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas made a loss in the first quarter. The bottom line was a minus of 24 million euros in the first three months of 2023, Adidas announced on Friday (May 5, 2023). Herzogenaurach with. At the same time last year, the company still posted a profit of 310 million euros.
The rapper had launched expensive lifestyle products together with Adidas – a highly lucrative business for both sides. “yeezy” meant billions in sales with a high profit margin for Adidas. After anti-Semitic statements from West, Adidas had to stop working together.
Adidas in the red over Kanye West’s “Yeezy” issues
Should the products still in stock have to be completely destroyed, this would burden the annual result by 700 million euros. Added one class action by investors in the US who accuse Adidas of not reacting in time.
Nevertheless, the new CEO Björn Gulden considers the first quarter to be somewhat better than expected. The currency adjusted Sales volume remained at the previous year’s level at almost 5.3 billion euros. In addition to the problems with “Yeezy”, Adidas mainly has problems with big ones stock levels to fight. However, these are already 300 million euros lower than at the beginning of the year.
