Kanye West & adidas Resolve Legal Battle Following Antisemitic Blowback

Bjorn Gulden, adidas’ CEO, announced the company resolved its legal battle against Kanye West. The former business partners settled out of court with no money exchanged.

“There isn’t any more open issues, and there is no… money going either way,” Gulden told reporters on a conference call. “And we both move on.”

He added, “There were tensions on many issues, and… when you put the claims on the right side and you put the claims on the left side, both parties said we don’t need to fight anymore and withdrew all the claims.”

The two sides faced off in multiple lawsuits after adidas cut ties with West over his antisemitism. Gulden said the breakdown of their partnership was “very unfortunate” despite their legal dispute.

“I think Kanye West is one of the most creative people in the world,” Gulden said in 2023. “Both in music and what I call street culture. So, he’s extremely creative and has … created a Yeezy line that was very successful. And then, as creative people, he did some statements, which wasn’t that good … I don’t think he meant what he said. I don’t think he’s a bad person — it just came across that way.”

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Earlier this year, a judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing adidas of securities fraud linked to West. HRSA-ILA Funds claimed adidas failed to disclose Ye’s inappropriate conduct from 2013 to 2018, leaving investors in the dark.

“Certainly, that Ye allegedly engaged in such behavior while working with adidas is troubling,” Judge Karin J. Immergut noted. “This Court does not condone what Ye allegedly did. But the question before this Court is not whether to admonish Ye or hold adidas morally accountable for Ye’s conduct. This Court is faced with a precise legal question: has [HRSA-ILA Funds] sufficiently pleaded facts showing that adidas misled investors and thereby committed federal securities fraud? On the current record before this Court, the answer is no.”

Ye’s collaboration with adidas was lucrative for the company, but the relationship reached its breaking point in 2022. The company terminated their partnership, saying Ye violated its “values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”