Adidas brings in $437 million from selling Yeezy shoes that will benefit anti-hate groups

DAVID MCHUGH

Adidas brought in 400 million euros ($437 million) from the first release of Yeezy sneakers left over after breaking ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, as the German sportswear maker tries to offload the unsold shoes and donate part of the proceeds to groups fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate.

The first batch of shoes sold in June helped the company reach an operating profit of 176 million euros in the second quarter, better than it originally planned, Adidas said in a statement Thursday.

After Ye’s antisemitic and other offensive comments led the company to end its partnership with the rapper in October, Adidas has sought a way to dispose of 1.2 billion euros worth of the high-end shoes in a responsible way.

“We will continue to carefully sell off more of the existing Yeezy inventory,” said CEO Bjørn Gulden, who took over