Bjørn Gulden confirmed as Adidas chief executive

Adidas has hired Puma boss Bjørn Gulden to lead the world’s second-largest sportswear maker from January after a torrid period for the group.

It comes after the brand issued three profit warnings in the past five months and has ended a lucrative tie-up with US rapper and fashion designer Kanye West.

The company first confirmed the talks with the former Norwegian professional footballer on Friday after a report by Manager Magazin, sending the shares up more than 20 per cent.

Gulden has been widely credited with resurrecting the Puma brand during his nine years at the helm as it struggled with dwindling sales and profits.

“Effective January 1, 2023, Bjørn Gulden is appointed as member of the Executive Board and CEO of Adidas AG,” Adidas said in a statement, adding that departing chief executive Kasper Rørsted would leave the company this week. Finance chief Harm Ohlmeyer will become the interim chief executive until Gulden’s arrival.

Shares in Adidas have lost 60 per cent over the past twelve months and had recently fallen to the lowest level in six years. The stock rose 2.75 per cent on Tuesday after the announcement.

“Bjørn Gulden brings almost 30 years of experience in the sporting goods and footwear industry,” Adidas chair Thomas Rabe said in a statement, pointing to an earlier stint at the brand from 1992 to 1999 and his record at Puma. “He reinvigorated the brand and led the company to record result,” said Rabe.

Adidas, which is three times larger than Puma, has had to grapple with falling consumer demand in western countries owing to rising inflation, and a decision to cut ties with West over his anti-Semitic remarks, with the move expected to wipe out up to €250mn in net profit this year. It has also been sitting on a pile of unsold stock as a result of lower demand from shoppers.

Adidas and Puma, both based in the small town of Herzogenaurach in rural Frankonia to the north-east of Nuremberg, have long been pitted against each other. They started life as a single shoe factory that was founded by two brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler in 1924, and which was a pioneer in the development of track shoes in the prewar years. After the second world war, the brothers fell out, with Adolf founding Adidas and Rudolf founding Puma.