Things aren’t going super well for Adidas right now: It was estimated the apparel company would lose about $1 billion in sales after cutting ties with Kanye West, although the rapper and Adidas apparently reached an agreement to sell the remaining Yeezy inventory. (They also recently ended their under-performing Ivy Park partnership with Beyoncé). Now, there’s another headache to add to the pile: Adidas is facing a lawsuit.
As USA Today reports, Adidas shareholders have filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming they knew about the risks of working with West years before ending their professional relationship with him. The suit alleges that “Adidas was aware of Ye’s problematic behavior and failed to take precautionary measures to limit financial losses if the partnership were to end.”
A 2018 annual report apparently “ignored serious issues” regarding possible risk to share holders by “generally alluding” to the risks “rather than stating that the company had actually considered ending the partnership as a result of West’s personal behavior.”
In an email yesterday (April 30), Claudia Lange, vice president of external communication at Adidas, wrote, “We outright reject these unfounded claims and will take all necessary measures to vigorously defend ourselves against them.”
Worth noting is that West himself is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.