According to the Financial Times, nearly two months after ending its relationship with Kanye West, sportswear giant Adidas is attempting to sell $530 million worth of Yeezys.
On Oct. 25, the company announced its departure from West, also known as Ye, citing the rapper’s antisemitic remarks and hate speech, which led to his suspension from social media platforms multiple times.
Employees have been concerned for years about their reliance on Yeezy sneakers, according to the London-based newspaper.
Adidas will continue to sell Ye’s shoe designs without the Yeezy label in the future.
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According to the Times, Yeezys generated an estimated $1.8 billion in annual revenue for Adidas at the end of this year, accounting for 7% of their total revenue.
According to Adidas insiders, while some of its franchises lost money in 2019, Yeezy did not.
The company pushed back against such claims in the report, noting that numbers actually increased in the fitness and basketball sectors.
According to the Times, Yeezy and all other company partnerships were reviewed as part of a formal risk management process.
Furthermore, the company’s decision to cut ties with the West came on the heels of multiple profit warnings, a drop in sales in China, and the company’s decision to stop doing business in Russia, according to the paper.
And what about the shoes the company is said to be stuck with? According to the Times, Adidas is attempting to sell them as part of its own brand in order to avoid further financial losses.
Adidas announced in early November that it would continue to sell West’s shoes without the Yeezy label.
“As we publicly communicated on October 25, we terminated our partnership with Ye immediately, halted production of Yeezy branded products, and ceased all payments to Ye and his companies,” Adidas finance chief Harm Ohlmeyer said at the time.
Adidas did not respond immediately to USA TODAY’s requests for comment on the most recent allegations or what will happen to the remaining $530 million in Yeezys.
