Adidas ended his partnership with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, on Tuesday after the musician made a series of offensive and anti-Semitic comments.
Adidas said in a statement, “Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism and any other type of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and violate the values of diversity and inclusion. , mutual respect and fairness of the company.”
“After careful consideration, the company has made the decision to immediately end the partnership with Ye, end production of Yeezy-branded products, and halt all payments to Ye and its companies. Adidas will halt the Adidas Yeezy activity with immediate effect.”
He said this would have a short-term negative impact of up to 250 million euros ($246 million) on net profit in 2022 due to strong seasonality in the fourth quarter.
The German sportswear giant had been pressured by the public and its own employees to sever ties with Ye, who said on a podcast on October 16: “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t let me go. . And now ? Calls to Adidas also came from at least three legal organizations, as well as anti-racism groups.
CAA Talent Agency confirmed that he had dropped Ye as a client Monday, and he was released Balenciaga Last week.
Twitter and Instagram blocked him for anti-Semitic comments. The conservative social media platform Speak then announced that Ye had agreed to purchase the platform.
Stocks fall
Adidas fell 4% in morning trading in Frankfurt after Bloomberg announced early in the day that it planned to end the partnership.
The company initiated a reflection on the partnership on October 6 but had been widely criticized for its inaction since then.
In a LinkedIn position On Monday, US-based Adidas employee Sarah Camhi wrote: “It’s been 14 days since Kanye began spouting anti-Semitic rhetoric and adidas has remained silent, both internally for employees and externally for our clients.”
The Trade Marketing Director added: “We have to do better as a brand. We have to do better for our people and we have to do better for our communities. ‘Adidas.’
Adidas started working with Ye in 2013 and 2016 signed an agreement for manufactures and distributes items from its Yeezy clothing line through the company. Adidas has previously said the partnership has had a “tremendous impact” on its business and is one of the most successful collaborations in its industry’s history.
However, Ye has publicly criticized Adidas, as well as some of its other business partners such as Gap retailerThese last months.
He told CNBC that Adidas was “copying” his ideas and also posted social media tirades against the company, specifically targeting chief executive Kasper Rorsted and board members.
In a note released Tuesday ahead of the announcement, Credit Suisse analysts outlined various risks for the company, including a recent larger-than-expected profit warning.
