No one has had such a dramatic fall from grace as Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, had at the end of last year. Losing friends, sports teams and brand deals alike over antisemitic comments and coming out as a Neo-Nazi led Ye to becoming the social outcast he’s always claimed he wanted to be.

Most brands were quick to drop him. However, one brand took particularly longer than everyone else, and there was a clear reason for that.

Ye’s brand Yeezy brought Adidas a lot of money. In 2022, the brand made up for 7% of Adidas’ total revenue, an estimated $1.8 billion. When other Adidas brands struggled, Yeezy didn’t. So when Adidas cut ties with Ye, they were left with a billion-dollar problem.

Their quick solution was to announce that would still produce the Yeezy shoe designs but under a different name. However, that only solved half the problem. They still had $530 million worth of Yeezys that were now practically unsellable.

With Adidas preparing to lose $1.3 billion in revenue this year and shares in the company sinking, rumors are spreading that Ye might come back into the picture. A new report states that both parties have reached an agreement and plan to sell the remaining inventory. Once everything is sold, the two will part ways once again.

The question remains if Adidas is willing to associate with Ye again. Adidas could opt to write off its remaining Yeezy products, which would save them both the hassle and controversies that could come from the rumored decisions.

Ye lost his billionaire status after the Adidas split, so one might wonder if it would be in his best interests to pursue a relationship with them again, but that seems unlikely. If you followed any of this last year, you’d probably remember the plethora of Instagram posts Ye made bashing Adidas and Adidas’ CEOs. It got so bad that Instagram blocked his account for a few days following his online rants.

Only time will tell what will become of this story, but one can only hope that Adidas stands firm in its original decision. Money can buy you a lot of things, but it can’t buy dignity. Let’s hope Adidas remembers that.