Adidas Settles Lawsuits With Kanye West Two Years After Ending Yeezy Deal
Adidas and Kanye West have settled their legal battles through an out-of-court settlement, the German sportswear brand confirmed in a call with reporters.
Both parties had been engaged in several legal arguments since the brand terminated its partnership with West’s Yeezy label in 2021 after the designer made a series of public antisemitic remarks.
According to the report, Adidas chief executive officer Bjørn Gulden told reporters in a conference call that there are no more “open issues” with West and that the pair had settled the issues without exchanging any money.
“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,” Gulden said, according to a Reuters report.
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In 2023, Adidas began selling some Yeezy inventory and donated a portion of proceeds to organizations representing people who “were hurt” by Kanye West’s antisemitic comments. While the Yeezy termination had a negative impact on Adidas’ results for several quarters initially, the company has since recovered and has bolstered other parts of its core business to make up for losses.
This month, Adidas raised its guidance for the year after reporting better-than-expected results for the third quarter. Currency-neutral revenues, minus Yeezy sales, were were up 14 percent in the quarter.
