Kanye West Will Not Receive A DIME When Adidas Sells His Yeezy Designs Without His Branding, Company Reveals 2022 Revenue Will Be About $502M Lower Than Expected

Adidas announced they intend to sell more Yeezy shoe designs without Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) after terminating their partnership with the rapper. It’s reported that Ye will not receive any payouts from the sale of the shoes without his branding. The German company also revealed revenue for 2022 will be about $502 million lower than expected. Deets inside…

After terminating its partnership with the famed rapper, Adidas has announced a plan to relaunch Ye’s shoe designs, except this time around they are ditching the Yeezy name in the process. According to Page Six, this could save the company over $300 million in royalty payments.

“Let me be clear, we own all the [intellectual property], we own all the designs, we own all the versions and new colorways, It’s our product,” said Adidas’ Chief Financial Officer Harm Ohlmeyer on an earnings call. “We intend to make use of these rights as early as 2023.”

Yikes. Sounds like Ye signed a bad deal.

The news comes two weeks after Adidas decided to cut ties with the Chi-town rapper after he continued to make anti-Semitic comments on social media. Ye and Adidas formed their partnership in 2013.

According to sources with direct knowledge of the Ye x Adidas deal, there’s a clause in the contract that calls for the rapper to get a reduced fee if Adidas sells his designs without his branding. Oh?

Adidas Chief Financial Officer Harm Ohlmeyer relayed that the company owns all of the “new versions” and “colorways” of the Yeezy designs.

“adidas is the sole owner of all design rights registered to existing product,” Ohlmeyer said on an earnings call. “We intend to make use of these rights as early as 2023. We are working through all the options. When the time is right we will be more specific.”

Mr. Ohlmeyer declined to elaborate on Adidas' future plans with the Yeezy designs, other than reiterating the company owns "all the versions and new colorways. It's our IP."

TMZ reached out to Adidas to find out if they would honor what’s allegedly in the contract by paying Ye his reduced fee, but a spokesman said “he's getting zero, zilch, null.” Not a dime.

The site believes there must be a morals clause in the contract where Adidas could easily say Ye’s “hate speech” is constituted as a breach of contract, which would nullify their deal.

It appears that Ye and Adidas will battle it out in court, and we doubt Ye will back down. You’ll recall that he ranted and raved about Adidas’ management on social media. He called the company out for releasing their Adilette 22 sandals/slides that resembled the Yeezy Slide, dubbing them “a fake YEEZY made by Adidas themselves.”

”I’m not standing for this blatant copying no more," he wrote on Instagram. He also blasted the company for creating “Yeezy Day” without his approval. He was not happy that the company was naming sneaker releases on its own and not creating physical retail stores devoted to his brand.

Ye does own the patent to the Yeezy Slide, so that could be an exception.

 

If these 1050s dropped without Yeezy branding, you’d still cop right?

adidas should just Red October shock drop them now pic.twitter.com/rcl6IVGxDi

— sockjig (@sockjig) November 9, 2022

 

As much as Ye talks about taking down “the powers that be,” why doesn’t he just launch his own Yeezy retail stores? He already admitted radio host Sway Calloway was right when he encouraged him to create his own shoe collection without the assistance of a major brand.

We doubt the new designs without the Yeezy branding will generate as many sales, but the company is likely trying to cut their losses.

The German shoe company is expected to lose roughly $250 million after cutting ties with Ye. On the earnings call, Adidas also revealed the brand’s total revenue for 2022 will be about $502 million lower than expected, but clarified the company will save about $300 million in royalties that they would’ve had to pay Ye next year. According to Forbes, Ye’s net worth took a hit! He lost his billionaire status, and his net worth is now $400 million.

Los Angeles cornerback Jalen Ramey took to social media to question Adidas’ new moves:

 

Jalen Ramsey speaks on Adidas recent plans to still use Yeezy designs in 2023

"If you don't rock wit somebody, why would you still use they designs!? " pic.twitter.com/AOzzvzdtUt

— yzyupdates (@yzyupdates) November 9, 2022

 

What are your thoughts about how Adidas is moving post-Kanye West?

Photos: AP Photo/Seth Wenig/Evan Vucci

source: theybf