The sports equipment manufacturer Adidas offers itself a choice decision by appointing the Norwegian Bjørn Gulden, CEO of Puma, the long-time rival, responsible for restoring the performance of the brand with the three stripes.
Bjørn Gulden will become President of Adidas from 1er January 2023, the Bavarian firm announced on Tuesday, which is counting on its new recruit to open “a new era of strength”. His contract is for five years, a spokesman told AFP.
The current boss of the brand with the three stripes, Kasper Rorsted, whose departure was announced this summer, will leave the company this week. The interim will be provided until the end of December by the finance director, Harm Ohlmeyer.
Bjørn Gulden, 57, had led Puma since 2013, in bad shape when he arrived.
He bounced the brand to the cougar, then facing the lifestyleopting for a return to sporting origins and strongly counting on the sponsorship of world stars such as the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
The Norwegian, a former professional footballer at the German second division club FC Nürnberg, has also increased Puma’s presence in soccer, Adidas’ king sport, notably by equipping the English first-tier club Manchester City.
At the Qatar World Cup which opens at the end of November, six national teams will wear the Puma label, against one more for Adidas.
Fratricidal rivalries
Adidas, Puma: the roots of these companies are in the same town in northern Bavaria, Herzogenaurach, where they were founded after the Second World War by two enemy brothers, Rudof and Adolf, pioneers in their industry.
When the shoe factory Gebrüder Dassler (“Dassler Brothers”) imploded in 1948, Rudolf left with 13 employees to found the company Puma. Adolf retains about forty employees, as well as the machines, and mixes his nickname “Adi” with his surname to launch Adidas.
The sequel is punctuated with betrayals and low blows. At the 1968 Mexico Olympics, Adidas blocked Puma shoes at customs. In the 1960s and 1970s, the “pumeraner” employees and their rivals, the “adidassler”, each had their own bakery in town and never met in restaurants.
“These quarrels are now largely outdated: in couples, siblings, we work in each of the two companies”, says a source at Puma.
These rivalries are hardly noticeable except in the two amateur football clubs in the city, each clinging to its brand.
Competition remains fierce between these two companies now listed on the Dax, the cream of German stocks. Adidas climbed 4% by mid-afternoon on Tuesday, having already rebounded as soon as talks with Mr. Gulden were announced. On the other hand, Puma lost 1.80%.
difficult task
Mr. Gulden returns to the company which employed him from 1992 to 1999 as vice president in the clothing and accessories branch.
He will find a group in financial difficulty which had to cut this fall in its forecasts of results for 2022. The reason lies mainly in the drop in sales in China, where dozens of cities are undergoing health restrictions linked to COVID-19 , and the slowdown in its European markets.
Adidas must also digest the brutal end of its very lucrative collaboration with Kanye West after remarks of an anti-Semitic nature made by the American rapper.
Mr. Gulden has earned the trust of Adidas’ board of supervisors by bringing “nearly 30 years of experience in the sporting goods and footwear industry”, its chairman, Thomas Rabe, said in the statement.
In addition, “the risk of a longer non-competition clause at Puma”, which could have delayed the arrival of Mr. Gulden at Adidas, “could be ruled out”, write analysts from Deutsche Bank.
The task awaiting the new recruit “is not easy, but the Adidas brand has an important catalog of designs and franchises”, they add.
With the impetus to come from new management, “a resurgence of the brand over the next three years is possible.”