Kanye West, now Ye, has reached a settlement with Adidas, after many legal battles that he faced with the shoe company. The settlement was put in place, Tuesday, October 29th, as the deal was first reported by Bloomberg, in which they stated that, “Adidas AG reached an out-of-court settlement with rapper Ye that concludes all claims connected to the sportswear maker’s decision to end their partnership two years ago” (Bloomberg). The CEO of Adidas, Bjorn Gulden, sought out to end the legal battle, as it seemed that it wasn’t helping any of the parties that were involved.
Kanye and Adidas first partnered up in 2013, in which at the time was “the most generous deal the company had offered a non-athlete” (New York Times).
The creation of Yeezy, became something that was of phenomenon, with the very first shoe looking out of this world, the adidas Yeezy Boost 750. In its first year, Yeezy generated $437 million in revenue, but that was not the lasting number, as Yeezy would garner $2 Billion in annual revenue, which was well beyond their total revenue. Ye would then become the co-creator of the shoe and clothing line, “collecting a 15 percent royalty on net sales with at least $3 million a year guaranteed” (New York Times).
The rapper would then become somewhat of a pariah of his own brand, as many claims would come to surface about his behavior, with many about how he would be, “quick to anger when frustrated”(New York Times), and how he, “showed up unexpectedly at Adidas’s New York office with Ms. Kardashian and tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of sewing machines”(New York Times).
After years of dealing with frustrations and creative battles, it would ultimately come to a head, when Ye wore a “white lives matter T-shirt and went on an antisemitic tirade in October 2022” (Page Six). Adidas would cut ties with Ye, stating in a release that, “Adidas…does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech” (BBC).
This left Adidas with $1.3 billion in shoes and apparel and lost over $441 million in sales. In result Adidas is looking to sell the rest of Yeezy stock in by the end of 2024. With the agreement being reached to end all of the claims and legal proceedings, both Adidas and Ye are looking to leave the past in the past.
