The shareholders of the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas criticized the actions of the management at the general meeting. Above all, the handling of the scandalous rapper Kanye West, once a guarantee for bubbling profits at Adidas, was the focus of criticism on Thursday at the meeting of shareholders in Fürth. Other shareholder representatives criticized the origin of textiles in the Adidas range – even child labor cannot be completely ruled out, it said.
The new CEO Björn Gulden announced that the company is working hard to find a solution for the remaining products from the high-priced “Yeezy” product line made with Kanye West. “It wouldn’t make sense to burn them,” said Gulden. A sale with subsequent donations of the proceeds to those affected by the musician’s statements seems conceivable. However, a final decision has not yet been made.
Renouncing the cooperation with the US rapper after his sometimes anti-Semitic statements costs Adidas sales of up to 1.2 billion euros and profits of up to 700 million euros. The financially burdensome decision was correct, said Ines Straubinger for the German Association for the Protection of Securities (DSW). Like other shareholder representatives, DSW refused to discharge the board of directors.
Die juristischen Auseinandersetzungen sowohl mit West als auch
with investors who accuse Adidas of being too hesitant are still at the very beginning, it said on Thursday.
Gulden announced that he wanted to bring the company, which had started to falter, back on course. However, he gave little hope of a quick correction. It makes no sense to announce short-term successes. Instead, a reasonable margin must be worked towards in the long term. “Let’s be satisfied with ten percent, we don’t have to do 17 percent,” he emphasized with a view to the profit margin. (dpa)