Adidas shunned Kanye West after he forced the company's hand through his unstoppable antisemitism rants.
Now, however, the German brand's new, embattled CEO Bjoern Gulden defended the sportswear giant's previous long-standing relationship with the Yeezy boss despite several reports of 'objectionable behaviour.'
"As difficult as he was, he is perhaps the most creative mind in our industry," the chief executive said in the company's annual shareholder meeting.
Meanwhile, after Ye's abrupt exit, Adidas was hit with stark
losses.
Starting with the bulk of unsold Yeezys costing the
company dearly, as it bought nearly 10% of Adidas' annual revenue last
year.
Moreover, the company estimated the lost revenue translated
into $246 million in losses in the first year alone.
Further, the
decline of a whopping $1.3 billion will cause trouble to the multi-billion
company as Yeezy clothes and shoes will not be available, not to mention a
drop of $534 million in operating profits.
However, the company
has ended the impasse by moving forward to sell some Yeezy products and
donating the profits to charity.
"What we are trying to do now over time is to sell some of this
merchandise... burning the goods would not be a solution," the chief
executive referred to one of the options mulled for the 'Yeezy problem.'
Secondly,
Adidas' defensive posture also can be explained by a recent lawsuit by its
investors against the company, which left them in a tight spot.
The
shareholders sued the company, alleging the company looked the other way on
the father-of-four's reported abnormal behaviour while "routinely ignoring"
complaints against him since 2018.
The investors did not place
West's name in the lawsuit, but they claimed Adidas "failed to take
meaningful precautionary measures to limit negative financial exposure" if
the partnership ended.
