Getty Image
Kanye West and Adidas settled their long-running separation out of court recently, and in doing so, the superstar rapper turned designer left an absolutely staggering amount of money on the table.
Lisa Scherzer and Margaret Fleming of Front Office Sports report that no money was exchanged between the two sides according to Adidas’s recent Q3 earnings call.
But West’s 201 deal with the German sportswear giant gave him a 15% royalty on all net sales of Yeezy branded wholesale products. Adidas reported that is lost more than $600 million in sales in the quarter it halted the Yeezy shoe line and projected a $1.27 sales loss in total.
Kanye West Left Nearly $200M Per Year On The Table With Adidas Divorce
Doing some quick math here, that’s $1.27 billion in Yeezy sales projected over a year. Fifteen percent of that $1.27 billion is $190,500,000. That’s how much West stood to clear per year, in perpetuity, so long as the Yeezy brand kept selling at the rate it was.
Adidas parted ways with West in October of 2022 after a string of anti-semitic remarks.
According to a report from CNN, “the sportswear maker said it ‘does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech’ and said that his recent comments were ‘unacceptable, hateful and dangerous.’ Adidas said they violated the company’s ‘values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.’”
West tweeted that ““I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
Before the incident, West claimed that he could say whatever he wanted to and not lose his Adidas. That was incorrect
West also lost business deals with companies such as Balenciaga and GAP.