Yeezy sell-off is helping Adidas recover after turmoil of Kanye West breakup

Herzogenaurach, Germany - Adidas said Thursday it booked a profit in the second quarter as its massive sell-off of Kanye West's Yeezy merchandise is starting to pay off.

Adidas has been selling off is huge Yeezy stock after ending its collaboration with Kanye West.
Adidas has been selling off is huge Yeezy stock after ending its collaboration with Kanye West.  © REUTERS

The German sportswear giant reported a net profit of $92 million from April to June, following two consecutive quarters of losses.

But this profit was still substantially lower than in the same period a year earlier.

Adidas has endured a period of chaos since October last year when it ended its lucrative tie-up with Ye after he made a series of antisemitic outbursts.

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The group ended production of the highly successful Yeezy line designed with West, and was saddled with a vast stock of surplus trainers.

Adidas also faced problems in China, long one of its key markets.

But there were improvements on both these fronts in the second quarter.

Adidas's first sell-off of Yeezy shoes, launched in late May, generated about 400 million euros in sales.

Adidas making "substantial donations" to nonprofits

"The sale of the first part of the Yeezy inventory did of course help both our top and bottom line in the quarter," said CEO Bjorn Gulden in a statement.

"We will continue to carefully sell off more of the existing Yeezy inventory. This is much better than destroying and writing off the inventory."

It allows Adidas to make "substantial donations" to NGOs while "of course also helping both our cash flow and general financial strength," Gulden added.

Adidas is giving cash to organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise and Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change.

The company is launching a second sell-off of Yeezy stock this month but does not expect it to be as profitable as the first, which was offering more expensive products.

Cover photo: REUTERS

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