Fashion companies Navyboot and Jet Set have cut off sponsorships with F1 racer Michael Schumacher as he continues to recover from a skiing accident, which left him in a coma for almost a year now.
Daily Mail reported that the two firms used to pay the German racer £4 million a year. After doctors reported that it is still uncertain when Schumacher will fully recover and that it is unlikely that he will be back to his usual state before the accident, Navyboot and Jet Set decided that he is no longer fit to model for them.
Bluewin.ch wrote that it was difficult for the sponsors to pull out, considering how they pay millions to the coma victim but are not getting anything back in return. The firms are expected to get some backlash from fans for leaving Schumacher at this difficult time, despite their economic objectives.
Earlier in 2014, Rosbacher, a German mineral water company, also withdrew its contract with Schumacher.
German carmaker Mercedes and DVAG, a wealth management company, promised that they will continue to sponsor Schumacher despite his current condition. The former champion is now recovering at his mansion in Lake Geneva, Switzerland with a team of specialists available to assist him. He got off a rehabilitation clinic in Lausanne before the summer ended and was transferred to the mansion where he can be with his family.
According to Sabine Kehm, Schumacher's manager, it is not yet possible to ascertain the length of time it will require for him to fully recover. In April, Kehm shared that the racer was presenting "moments of conscious and awakening", based on the same report by Daily Mail. Kehm also refuted Phillip Streiff's previous statements about Schumachers' condition and added that Streiff was not a friend of the racer.
International Business Times reported that the seven-time Formula One champion was vacationing in Meribel in the French Alps with family and friends where he was catapulted 34 feet and smashed his head onto a rock. He was not skiing fast but lost control on the slope. He was placed in a medically-induced coma immediately after he sustained the injury, which damaged his brain. The incident happened on December 29, 2013 but his doctors already proposed to put him out of his coma in as early as January 2014. He reportedly woke up in June and was transferred from Grenoble University Hospital to Lausanne.