Adidas sold its last pair of Yeezy runners at the end of 2024, the sportswear brand said today, ending the process of liquidating stock of the lucrative shoe partnership with rapper Ye after splitting from him in October 2022.
Adidas has been trying to put the Yeezy affair behind it since antisemitic rants by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, forced it to end the highly profitable partnership, denting revenues and driving the company to an annual loss in 2023.
"There is not one Yeezy shoe left, it has all been sold and that episode is behind us," Adidas chief financial officer Harm Ohlmeyer told a press conference today after Adidas reported results.
The company has felt the loss of Yeezy particularly in the US, where the shoes were popular. In its results today, Adidas said North America sales fell 2% in 2024, "solely due to significantly lower Yeezy sales".
The company started selling off its remaining stock of Yeezy shoes in May 2023, pledging to donate part of the proceeds to organisations combating antisemitism, including the Anti-Defamation League.
Adidas reported it sold €650m worth of Yeezy sneakers last year, making a profit of around €200m.
The year before, Adidas made €750m in revenue from Yeezy inventory, generating €300m in operating profit.
The company has set aside €260m for charitable donations from the proceeds of Yeezy sales, CEO Bjorn Gulden told a press conference. That amounts to about half of the operating profit Adidas made on selling off its stock of the sneakers in 2023 and 2024.
Of that, €200m is held in a foundation set up by Adidas, while €60m has already been paid out to charity organisations, Gulden said.
Adidas today forecast its sales would slow slightly from a strong 2024 and grow less than 10% this year.
Under CEO Bjorn Gulden, Adidas has repeatedly delivered stronger results than forecast each quarter, but its shares were seen down nearly 4% in premarket indications in a sign the cautious outlook disappointed the market.
Its operating profit forecast was also lower than expected, with Adidas saying it should reach a level between €1.7 billion and €1.8 billion this year, below €2.1 billion analysts had expected.
Adidas, which has been gaining market share while Nike struggles, has the "clear ambition" of being the top sportswear brand in all markets except the US, Gulden said in a statement in the annual report, also published today.
It expects annual revenues to increase at a high single-digit rate in currency-neutral terms, lower than the 12% growth it delivered last year.
"A significantly better, broader, and deeper product range combined with an increased focus on local consumer preferences as well as much improved retailer relationships will be the main drivers of the projected top-line increase," Adidas said in a statement.
The German brand is looking for new sources of growth beyond its popular retro sneakers Samba and Gazelle, as it seeks to take further market share from its struggling US rival Nike while also fending off newer sportswear brands, such as On Running and Hoka.
In the key Christmas shopping quarter, Adidas sales grew by 15% in North America, 25% in Europe, 31% in Latin America, and 16% in Greater China.
Adidas expects North America and Greater China, among others, to deliver double-digit rate growth in brand sales in the current year.
