Adidas cut ties with Ye, also known as Kanye West, back in October after the rapper made anti-Semitic comments.
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Joe Radle/Getty Images
Adidas cut ties with Ye, also known as Kanye West, back in October after the rapper made anti-Semitic comments.
Joe Radle/Getty Images
More than six months after Adidas severed ties with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, the sportswear giant has delayed releasing a plan on how to restock its pile of unsold Yeezy merchandise — sparking frustration among investors.
“We are working on different options,” said Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden Investor Call On Friday. “The results are drawing near.”
Earlier this week, a group of investors filed a class-action lawsuit against Adidas, alleging the company knew about Ye’s problematic behavior years before ending the collaboration. Adidas denies the allegations.
Adidas ended its partnership with Ye in October after the rapper made anti-Semitic comments. The company stopped production of Yeezy products and stopped paying Ye and his companies.
In February, Adidas estimated that the decision not to sell existing products would reduce the company’s full-year revenue by 1.2 billion euros (about $1.28 billion) and cut its operating profit by 500 million euros ($533 million) this year.
The loss could be even greater if the company doesn’t figure out how to recreate the Yeezy products already made.
For months, investors have been waiting for Adidas to decide how to recoup its losses.
A Investor Call In March, Gulden said it had received hundreds of business proposals, but it was important to tread carefully given the tainted reputation the product was associated with.
“I’ve had maybe 500 different business proposals from people who want to buy merchandise. But again, it’s not necessarily the right thing, so it’s a very difficult, emotional situation,” he said.
On Friday, Gulden told investors that “there are three, four scenarios that are developing right now” and that the company has held several talks with “interesting parties.”
He added that the reuse plan could be approved “in the medium term in the future”.
