Adidas has reached an out-of-court settlement with rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, to end all legal proceedings between them.
According to a report released by The Washington Post, Kanye and the sportswear brand’s partnership generated about $2 billion in annual revenue for Adidas by 2022
Bloomberg also reported that Yeezy made half of Adidas’ total profits before they went their separate ways, highlighting the partnership’s success.
This achievement helped Ye reach unicorn status, though he lost it after ties were severed following his antisemitic comments in 2022.
West, 47, posted on X in 2022 that he was “going death con 3 on Jewish people”.
Adidas issued a statement at the time calling the remarks “unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous” and saying they “violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect, and fairness.”
The end of the partnership left Adidas with Yeezy stock worth over £1 billion.
Last year, Adidas announced it would be selling its leftover Yeezy inventory in batches and donating part of the proceeds to anti-hate groups.
The company made around $437m (£336.2m) from its first sale of the leftover sneakers.
Adidas kept its promise and made donations to the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonize & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change run by George Floyd’s brother.
This settlement, even though it is long overdue, does not involve any financial exchange, as confirmed by Reuters.
However, it was reported that Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden acknowledged the details during a recent conference call.
He stated “There aren’t any more open issues, and there are no money going either way, and we both move on whilst declining to give further details of the deal. There were tensions on many issues, and when you put the claims on the right side and you put the claims on the left side, both parties said we don’t need to fight anymore and withdrew all the claims.”
