Frankfurt, Germany– German sportswear giant Adidas reported an annual loss for 2023 on Wednesday, still weighed down by the fallout from the end of its tie-up with controversial rapper Kanye West.
The loss of 75 million euros ($82 million) followed a profit of 612 million euros the previous year.
Sales fell by five percent to 21.4 billion euros, and were hit particularly hard in the United States due to the discontinuation of sales of Yeezy trainers that were designed with West.
Sales slipped slightly in the fourth quarter, with a particularly heavy fall in North America as Adidas sold less to wholesalers as it sought to reduce excess inventory.
In 2022, Adidas broke off its contract with West after he made a series of anti-Semitic remarks, leaving it stuck with thousands of unsold Yeezy shoes they had developed together.
Two Yeezy sales in 2023 brought in 750 million euros, well below the 1.2 billion euros of revenue the logo had generated in 2022.
Adidas is giving profits from the sales to charities.
In 2024, Adidas expects sales to grow at a “mid-single-digit rate”. The company aims to sell the remaining Yeezy revenue at cost, which would result in sales of around 250 million euros.
