Adidas has booted the rapper and fashionista extraordinaire formerly known as Kanye West off the billionaire's list.
After a series of appearances showing questionable behavior and rhetoric — including antisemitic tirades — the German athletic brand severed its relationship with Ye.
"I can say anti-Semitic s**t and Adidas cannot drop me," said Ye on the Drink Champs podcast earlier this month. Ye had been working with Adidas since 2013. His Yeezy line was expensive, unique, and broadly well-received.
For weeks Adidas remained silent from the outside pressure until today.
"Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism 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," the company stated in a press release. "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 payment to Ye and his companies.
"Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect."
The $1.5 billion value of the Adidas deal jump-started Ye and his brand; without Adidas, he is worth $400 million.
Ye always felt he was undervalued by Forbes. After he first made the billionaires’ list, he boldly texted Forbes, "It’s $3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count."
For 2022, he sent documents claiming his Adidas partnership alone was worth $4.3 billion. Still, Fobes clocked him at $2 billion overall.
Adidas wasn’t the only company to cut Ye. Gap terminated its Yeezy partnership in September; earlier this month, JP Morgan did too. These companies thought they were avoiding financial repercussions; however, Adidas stock continues to fall, 6.7% as of this morning and 67.1% year-to-date.
According to investment bank Cowen, Yeezy products amount to 4-8% of Adidas’ revenue.
Ye doesn’t appear to be finished. After getting locked out of Twitter and Instagram, he closed a deal to purchase Parler, the right-wing social media site. His first post on Parler was just five days ago.
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