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Highlights:
- Adidas’ e-commerce revenue dropped 3% year-on-year due to reduced Yeezy sales.
- Excluding Yeezy, Adidas’ e-commerce and direct-to-customer businesses grew substantially.
- Key shareholder Groupe Bruxelles Lambert reduced its stake but remains supportive of Adidas’ management and strategy.
Adidas AG’s third-quarter performance reflects both the impact and recovery path following the controversy surrounding its Yeezy brand collaboration. Adidas’ e-commerce revenue dipped by 3% year-over-year, a drop attributed to the limited sales from remaining Yeezy inventory. The Yeezy brand, once a major contributor, generated €200 million in revenue this quarter, significantly lower than the €350 million reported in the same period last year.
The Yeezy line, launched in 2015 in partnership with rapper Kanye West, once thrived as a unique offering in Adidas' portfolio. However, following West’s public controversy in 2022 due to antisemitic statements, Adidas severed ties, leading to challenges in clearing its Yeezy inventory. The surplus of unsold Yeezy products has since weighed down the company’s financials. Without Yeezy, Adidas reported robust growth: e-commerce sales were up by over 25%, and direct-to-customer (DTC) revenue saw a 17% increase. Adidas noted a 7% decline in North American sales for the quarter, “solely related to the significantly smaller Yeezy business,” with other areas performing well. Excluding Yeezy, North American revenue actually increased year-over-year, indicating strong brand loyalty and sales outside the Yeezy line.
Despite these challenges, Adidas achieved an operating profit of €598 million, up from €409 million in the previous year, although Yeezy’s contribution to this profit dropped to €50 million from €150 million in 2023. The company’s broader portfolio continued to drive shareholder confidence, as evidenced by its stock performance.
On the shareholder front, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) reduced its stake to 3.51% from 5.1% earlier in the year. Despite this move, GBL reaffirmed its support for Adidas’ management, expressing confidence in the company’s long-term strategy.
