Source: Jonathan Leibson / Getty
especially when money is involved. That’s been the case with Kanye and adidas. The company’s long and short-term debt ratings were lowered by S&P’s Global Ratings this week from A+ to A- after adidas AG reported
a more than $1 billion projected loss in unsold Yeezy merchandise.
S&P warned that the rating could be lowered even more.
West, who became a
Forbes-confirmed billionaire through his partnership with adidas, was dropped by the company
last October after a series of antisemitic comments. Yeezy was reportedly responsible for 5% of Adidas sales in 2021 which was expected to grow to 7% of Adidas’ total global sales in 2022.
Earlier this month
via a press release, adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden addressed the challenges facing the German apparel company. “The numbers speak for themselves. We are currently not performing the way we should,” he said. “2023 will be a year of transition to set the base to again be a growing and profitable company. We will put full focus on the consumer, our athletes, our retail partners and our adidas employees. Together we will work on creating brand heat, improve our product engine, better serve our distribution and assure that adidas is a great and fun place to work.”
Gulden added, “I am convinced that over time we will make adidas shine again. But we need some time.”
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Still, if the company can’t repurpose some of its Yeezy stock currently languishing in warehouses, they’d have a take a $740 million dollar hit in addition to the projected loss in future sales. That had led to unsubstantiated rumors that adidas and West may reunite.
But hold up. The YeSreams Twitter account seems to be
the main source of the rumors. As reported by
Sole, that account tweeted Friday that a deal had been reached that allowed for sales to resume with the following caveats:
– No new Yeezy branded designs
– Only selling current Yeezy branded products that Adidas cannot sell without Ye
– No update on future after these are sold
– Pirate Blacks will be one of the first release pic.twitter.com/VVMiPp9RUL
— Ye Streams (@kanyestreams1)
February 24, 2023
However, that tweet was deleted and no other credible sources have reported anything similar. Since the end of the adidas partnership, West has kept a low public profile. He’s been
most recently seen getting gas in L.A. with ‘wife’ Bianca Censori. West and the Yeezy employee, who hails from Australia, reportedly had a wedding ceremony but have yet to file any paperwork to make things legal.
See how Twitter’s reacting to adidas possibly reuniting with West below:
