Photo Credit: Alex Haney
Adidas has severed ties with Kanye West following the rapper’s antisemitic rants. The German company has also reached out to partners like Foot Locker to cease sales of current Yeezy inventory.
“I can say antisemitic sh*t and Adidas cannot drop me,” the rapper said on a now-deleted episode of the Drink Champs podcast. Ye worked with Adidas since 2013 to create a highly profitable line of sneakers and other fashion items. Adidas earns an estimated 10% of its sales from Yeezy products alone–which Kanye thought made him untouchable in the realm of business.
Adidas finally broke its silence on October 25, announcing it ‘after a thorough review’ that it would end the relationship with Ye. “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,” the statement to the press read.
Forbes calculates that Yeezy’s Adidas deal was worth an estimated $1.5 billion, based on annual earnings. Without that deal in place, Kanye is estimated to be worth around $400 million.
The remainder of his net worth comes from real estate, cash, his music catalog, and a 5% stake in Kim Kardashian’s fashion line, Skims. A Skims spokesperson told Forbes that Kanye hadn’t been involved with the brand beyond his initial investment since 2019.
Forbes reports when the rapper initially made the list in 2020, he texted the outlet and claimed inaccuracy. “It’s not a billion,” the rapper told the outlet. “It’s 3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count,” the texts read. Every year since then, the rapper has reached out to the outlet to correct its reporting on his fortune. For 2022, Forbes says Ye sent a document claiming the Adidas partnership alone is worth $4.3 billion.