Adidas says it wants to 'double down' on U.S. market

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Adidas, which has come under pressure after ending its lucrative Yeezy shoe partnership with Kanye West, is trying to grab a bigger slice of the U.S. sports market, the group's regional head told the Wall Street Journal.

"We want to double down on all of the things that are U.S.-centric, particularly around sport," Rupert Campbell, the company's North America president, was quoted as saying in an interview.

Apart from ending the Yeezy collaboration, Adidas has also stopped its Ivy Park collaboration with pop star Beyoncé according to media reports, with the contract set to expire at the end of this year.

Campbell said that, while Adidas would continue celebrity partnerships, sports was now the focus for the U.S. business, singling out basketball as an example where he said the company's share was very low.

"So we believe there is an opportunity there."

The Yeezy split cost Adidas 600 million euros in sales in the fourth quarter of 2022 and could cause the German sporting goods maker to post its first annual loss in three decades this year, Adidas said last month.

Talking on the overall U.S. sporting-goods market, the world's biggest, Campbell said: "We have to show our credentials in this space."

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Alex Richardson)