{"id":159402,"date":"2023-05-15T00:39:40","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T00:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culture.org\/?p=159402"},"modified":"2023-05-16T00:47:42","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T00:47:42","slug":"adidas-struggles-with-1-3-billion-unsold-yeezy-stock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culture.org\/special-interest\/adidas-struggles-with-1-3-billion-unsold-yeezy-stock\/","title":{"rendered":"Adidas Struggles with $1.3 Billion Unsold Yeezy Stock"},"content":{"rendered":"           <!--  <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n                jQuery(document).ready(function() {\r\n                    jQuery(\".key-accordion-item .key-menu\").on(\"click\", function() {\r\n                        if (jQuery(this).parent().hasClass(\"active\")) {\r\n                            jQuery(this).next().slideUp();\r\n                            jQuery(this).parent().removeClass(\"active\");\r\n                        } else {\r\n                            jQuery(\".key-content\").slideUp();\r\n                            jQuery(\".key-accordion-item\").removeClass(\"active\");\r\n                            jQuery(this).parent().addClass(\"active\");\r\n                            jQuery(this).next().slideDown();\r\n                        }\r\n                    });\r\n                })\r\n            <\/script> -->\r\n\r\n\r\n            <!-- start html -->\r\n\r\n            <div class=\"news-key-takeaway-wapper\">\r\n                                <span style=\"background-color:#39b54a;\">Key Takeaways<\/span>\r\n                <ul class=\"news-key-nbox\" style=\"border-color:#39b54a;background-color:rgba(57, 181, 74, 0.1);\">\r\n                                                        <li>Adidas is struggling with $1.3 billion worth of unsold Yeezy stock after terminating its partnership with Kanye West over his series of antisemitic rants.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>The company is facing a dilemma regarding the unsold stock as selling the shoes would mean paying royalties to West, while removing the Yeezy branding and selling the shoes would be dishonest.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>The Yeezy split has been financially devastating for both Adidas and West, with Adidas reporting hundreds of millions in lost sales and West potentially losing his billionaire status.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>Adidas is also dealing with a class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders accusing the company of failing to minimize the fallout from the terminated partnership.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>Adidas' new CEO expects 2023 to be \"a year of transition\" for the company, which is seeking to move beyond the breakup with West and restart growth.<\/li>\r\n                                                <\/ul>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            \n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s been nearly seven months since Adidas terminated its partnership with Kanye West over his series of antisemitic rants, leaving the company with $1.3 billion worth of unsold Yeezy stock.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bjorn Gulden, the new Adidas CEO, recently announced that they are getting closer to making a decision on the unsold stock and that their options are narrowing.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Imperfect Solutions<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adidas is facing a dilemma regarding the unsold Yeezy stock. Selling the shoes would mean paying royalties to West, while removing the Yeezy branding and selling the shoes would be dishonest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Giving the shoes away could lead to resales on secondary markets due to their high market value.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although Gulden did not rule out destroying the stock, he emphasized that Adidas is trying to avoid that outcome.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The exact number of unsold Yeezy shoes remains undisclosed, as revealing the number could impact consumer demand.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Financial Impact on Adidas and Kanye West<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Yeezy split has been financially devastating for both Adidas and West.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adidas reported hundreds of millions in lost sales since ending the partnership, which could dent earnings by about $549 million in 2023 if the company doesn\u2019t sell the shoes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For West, the termination of the partnership could cost him about $1.5 billion in net worth, potentially ending his billionaire status.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>                        <!-- <div class=\"container-c\"> -->\r\n                        <!-- <div class=\"row justify-content-between\"> -->\r\n                        <!-- <div class=\"col-post-800\"> -->\r\n                        <!-- start html -->\r\n                        <div class=\"blockquote-wapper\">\r\n                            <div>\r\n                                <span class=\"text_quot\">\r\n                                    <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adidas reported hundreds of millions in lost sales since ending the partnership, which could dent earnings by about $549 million in 2023 if the company doesn\u2019t sell the shoes.<\/span><\/p>\n                                <\/span>\r\n\r\n                                <div class=\"quot_icon\">\r\n                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-content\/themes\/culture\/icons\/i_quot.svg\" type=\"image\/svg+xml\">\r\n                                <\/div>\r\n                            <\/div>\r\n\r\n                            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"quot_tick\" src=\"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-content\/themes\/culture\/icons\/i_quot_tri.svg\" type=\"image\/svg+xml\">\r\n                        <\/div>\r\n                        <!-- end html -->\r\n                        <!-- <\/div> -->\r\n                        <!-- <\/div> -->\r\n                        <!-- <\/div> -->\r\n                                    <\/h2>\n<h2><b>Adidas Facing Shareholder Lawsuit<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adidas is also dealing with a class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders accusing the company of failing to minimize the fallout from the terminated partnership.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lawsuit alleges that Adidas knew as far back as 2018 that West&#8217;s controversial comments could impact the company&#8217;s stock price but continued working with him until the relationship became untenable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The shareholders claim Adidas ignored the risks of oversupply of Yeezy branded shoes in case the partnership suddenly ended, particularly if demand fell due to controversy surrounding West.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In response, Adidas stated, &#8220;We outright reject these unfounded claims.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Recovery Plans and Financial Performance<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adidas&#8217; new CEO, Bjorn Gulden, acknowledged that losing the Yeezy brand is hurting the company. If Adidas decides not to sell the remaining Yeezy stock, the breakup will reduce earnings by $549 million this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Net sales in the first quarter declined by 1% to $5.27 billion, and the company reported a net loss of $24 million.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gulden expects 2023 to be &#8220;a year of transition&#8221; for Adidas on the way to &#8220;a better &#8217;24 and a good &#8217;25.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the company seeks to restart growth and move beyond the breakup with West, it is also facing a lawsuit from investors alleging that Adidas knew about West&#8217;s offensive remarks and harmful behavior years before the split but failed to take precautionary measures to limit financial losses. Adidas has rejected these claims and promised to vigorously defend itself.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":159403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[411],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-interest"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}