Billionaire No More
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Finally, Kanye West has to pay for saying something stupid.
It’s not that I take joy in another man’s misfortune, but it’s about time Kanye West faced some consequences for the things he says.
On Tuesday, after weeks of being silent amid calls for them to terminate their relationship with the rapper and designer, Adidas released the following statement:
adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.
After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. adidas will stop the adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.
This is expected to have a short-term negative impact of up to €250 million on the company’s net income in 2022 given the high seasonality of the fourth quarter.
adidas is the sole owner of all design rights to existing products as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership. More information will be given as part of the company’s upcoming Q3 earnings announcement on November 9, 2022.
Earlier this month, Kanye claimed on the Drink Champs podcast: “I can say antisemitic shit and Adidas cannot drop me.”
What stuck out to me most to me was the note that “adidas is the sole owner of all design rights to existing products as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership.”
So he owns the name, but not the intellectual property of the designs belong to Adidas. I find it fascinating that some people believe Kanye West exploited antisemitism for professional gain. To get out of what some felt was a “bad deal” reportedly worth $1.5 billion.
I find it difficult to see a man who admittedly doesn’t like to read and experiences mania as strategic, but even if bigotry was partially performed in the name of business, it has resulted in him losing his the billionaire status that openly chased for years.
“Without Adidas, Ye is worth…
