Brands: What’s happening with Reebok?

Adidas acquired the fitness and sportswear brand in 2006 with high hopes. As Adidas comments today, the outlook for Reebok seemed promsing recently: “As a result of the successful implementation of the turnaround plan ‘Muscle Up’ initiated in 2016, the brand [Reebok] was able to significantly improve its profitability and returned to the profit zone in 2018, two years earlier than initially planned under ‘Muscle Up’. In 2019, Reebok also returned to the growth path. Driven by double-digit growth in its home market North America, global Reebok sales increased by 2% on a currency-neutral basis compared to the previous year.”

So Adidas remained patient. In an article of German newspaper Welt am Sonntag back in 2018, Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted was quoted: “It was never my expectation that the situation could be turned around overnight,” he said. However, Rorsted continued, there was “a very clear, non-debatable plan until 2020, which will be consistently enforced”.
Rorsted kept his word and despite the positive development as well as some buzz around Reebok created through collabs with celebs such as rapper Cardi B, turnover and profit of the Boston-based sportswear company don’t reach Adidas’ expectations.

Candidates for a possible takeover have been circulating for some time as well and range from the new Supreme owner VF Corp to the Chinese Anta Group and the US multibrand holding Authentic Brands Group (ABG).

READ ALSO:

Brands

Is the next takeover in the Italian fashion world on the horizon?

Read more →

Brands

‘Our biggest mission is to merge performance and sustainability’

Read more →