Adidas’s first loss in 30 years after Yeezy crisis

German sportswear group counts the cost of ending its shoe collaboration with the rapper Kayne West

ADIDAS has posted its first loss in more than 30 years as the financial hit from abandoning its deal with the rapper

Kanye West is laid bare. The German sportswear giant recorded a loss of €58m (£50m) in 2023 compared with a €254m profit a year earlier.

Bjorn Gulden, the chief executive, said the results were “by far not good enough”, although he said the end of 2023 was “better than what I had expected at the beginning of the year”.

Adidas has been left reeling from the collapse of its lucrative partnership with West, who now goes by the name

Ye. Mr Gulden ruled out renewing the Yeezy partnership after a picture of him with West last month sparked speculation. The Adidas chief said he had not been holding a business meeting with West but had simply bumped into him by chance at a Los Angeles airport after the Superbowl.

Speaking at a press conference, the Adidas boss said: “If you meet him in an airport, I don’t know what you do. Do you hide? Or what do you do?” He said there was “no business discussion”, adding: “The contract has ended. We are selling off the inventory.”

Adidas and Mr West developed the Yeezy range of trainers, which became one of the company’s most successful shoe lines, with sales of about $1bn (£808m) a year.

However, Adidas pulled the collaboration in October 2022 after West made a series of anti-semitic comments, including saying in a post on Twitter that he intended to “go death con 3 on Jewish people”.

He later said on a podcast: “I can say anti-semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?” Adidas has been selling off its remaining stock from the Yeezy range in recent months, with part of the sales going towards donations to anti-hate charities.

Yesterday, the company said that revenues were down about 5pc at €21.4bn last year, with the discontinuation of the

Yeezy deal contributing to a €500m decline in sales during 2023. Adidas said it expected sales to improve this year. “We feel we are in a very good position to grow in the footwear lifestyle segment,” Mr Gulden said.

Adidas’s loss marks the first time it has been in the red since 1992, when it was rocked by the death of Horst Dassler, part of the founding family, and a decision by his daughters to exit the company.