Adidas Hires Puma’s Chief Executive As Its New Head

Puma’s chief executive Bjorn Gulden will be taking over the reins at adidas by the end of the year.

Gulden will be replacing adidas’ current CEO, Kasper Rorsted, who plans to leave his position in 2023.

While Adidas has appointed Gulden as its new CEO, the role will likely be filled by the company’s finance chief Harm Ohlmeyer for a short period due to a non-compete clause in Gulden’s contract.

Adidas’ stock went up by 20% after the news broke.

“Bjorn Gulden had a very high reputation as Puma CEO, had been instrumental to the turnaround of the company and Puma’s strong brand heat,” Stifel analyst Cedric Lecasble told Reuters, adding that Gulden could help strengthen the company’s position.

The appointment comes weeks after adidas decided to terminate its deal with Yeezy, following Ye’s anti-semitic comments. The adidas-Yeezy deal was estimated to earn nearly $2 billion annually, accounting for 10% of the company’s annual revenue.

The company expects the termination to result in a short-term negative impact of $246.5 million on its annual income. However, long-term damages are expected to be much higher.

Originally published at https://retailbum.com on November 7, 2022.