Adidas says it won't destroy its mountain of unsold Yeezy stock but plans to sell these items and donate profits to charity

• Adidas cut ties with Kanye West after his antisemitic rant last October. It was left with over $1 billion of Yeezy stock.
• There has been much speculation as to what Adidas will do with this leftover product.

Adidas confirmed Thursday that it will not burn its mountain of unsold Yeezy stock but rather attempt to sell these items and donate profits to charity.

The company was one of several to cut ties with Kanye West in the wake of his antisemitic rant last October.

And as recently as its earnings call this month, Adidas didn't appear to know what to do with the $1.3 billion worth of stock it still had leftover from its partnership with West.

But at Adidas' annual shareholder meeting on Thursday CEO Björn Gulden told investors that burning these products is not the solution and it will instead "sell parts of this inventory" over time. Gulden spoke in German at the meeting; a translated version of his comments was shared with Insider by an Adidas spokesperson.

Gulden then went on to say that Adidas plans to donate the profits from the sale of these items to organizations representing people who "were hurt" by West's comments.

It's not yet clear exactly which charities the company will donate to, or when it will start sales.

Adidas did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Earlier this week, the FT first reported that a top shareholder was demanding answers over Adidas' investigation into West.

In 2018, West showed Yeezy staff explicit images of his then-wife, Kim Kardashian, and said his last Yeezy collection was inspired by "skinheads and Nazis," according to Rolling Stone.

Adidas ended its nine-year relationship with West in October. It factored a 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) sales loss into its annual guidance if it were not to sell the stock, and expects to take a 500 million euro ($552 million) hit on profits because of this.