Yeezy does it: Adidas' split with Kanye West hammers profits

Adidas' breakup with Kanye West, now known as Ye, battered company profits last year, it revealed on Wednesday. 

The German sportswear giant posted a net loss of €513 million in 2022, largely due to its inability to sell the former rapper's 'Yeezy' line of shoes. 

Adidas and Ye parted ways in October after he made anti-Semitic remarks on social media. 

The public outcry pressured the international brand, along with others, to cut ties with Ye, the most-decorated hip-hop artist in history. 

Ye's mental health was put under the spotlight by the controversy, with some pointing out his bipolar condition. 

Slumping revenue in China and higher supply costs were also behind Adidas's fourth-quarter losses. 

It is now trying to find ways to replace the flagship Yeezy line, which analysts have said generated 15% of net income. 

In a statement, CEO Bjorn Gulden called 2023 a "transition year". 

"We can then start to build a profitable business again in 2024," he added. 

Net sales between September and December were up 1.3% at €5.21 billion compared to the same quarter a year before. 

However, the €600 million hit to revenue from halting the partnership with Ye held sales back. 

During an earnings call Wednesday, Gulden said there were “many variables” affecting what to do with the shoes now stacked in warehouses.

Destroying them could “raise sustainability issues," though some companies have offered recycling solutions, said Gulden. Re-stitching them to hide the Yeezy brand so they could be sold “is not very honest, so it’s not an option,” he added.

Suggestions to give them away to those in need in places like earthquake-hit Syria or Turkey would mean the product would “come back again very quickly” due to its high market value, "so that's not