CorpDigest
Adidas AG
Leadership History
5 leaders · 1987 to present
Last reviewed: 2026-06-03 · By Swet Parvadiya
Wholesale — meaning Foot Locker, JD Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods, Intersport, and thousands of regional sporting-goods retailers — still accounts for the majority of revenue. Revenue recovered. Adidas generates about 15% of revenue from Greater China, but that number could compress if nationalist buying patterns intensify or if local brands simply out-execute on trend speed. Twenty-one percent of revenue from the world's largest sportswear market is underperformance, full stop. On Running and Hoka stole serious runners while adidas was distracted by Yeezy revenue. The town of Herzogenaurach, Germany has a population of around 25,000 people and is home to two of the most recognizable sportswear brands in the world. It outfitted Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics decades before it was officially called adidas. It signed Michael Jordan before Nike did — then failed to close the deal. Gulden's first task was figuring out what to do with the shoes. The answer turned out to be staged limited releases to specific retailers and charitable auctions, a process that eventually cleared most of the inventory while preserving some of the designs' scarcity value. The recovery wasn't just a return to baseline — the 2025 figure is 19 percent above the pre-crisis 2022 level, suggesting that the underlying demand for adidas products was stronger than the crisis-year numbers implied. The brothers' relationship deteriorated during and after World War II, with each accusing the other of collaboration with different sides at different points. By 1948, the split was permanent. Rudolf left to found Puma. Adolf kept the factory, the workers, and the name he coined from his own nickname — Adi Dassler, shortened to Adidas. West Germany defeated Hungary 3-2 in Bern in what German football calls the Miracle of Bern. The boots were specifically credited by players as a factor in their performance on a wet pitch. Adolf kept the core business and named it Adidas in 1949. It has supplied FIFA World Cup match balls since 1970, beginning with the Telstar. The company's history is full of moments where it was closest to the market and then, inexplicably, let the opportunity slip. The lesson about brand portfolio complexity appears to have been absorbed: adidas has not pursued large brand acquisitions since. Currency headwinds affect adidas significantly because its manufacturing is concentrated in Asia while its revenues are global.
CEO
2023 – Present
3 years (current)
Bjorn Gulden took over after the Yeezy termination left Adidas with inventory risk and profitability pressure. His early decisions focused on clearing remaining Yeezy stock, simplifying operations, rebuilding wholesale relationships, and returning attention to sport-led categories such as running and football. The measurable result was a rebound to EUR24.811B in 2025 net sales, with operating margin reaching 8.3%.
CEO
2016 – 2022
6 years
Kasper Rørsted's tenure emphasized efficiency, digital expansion, direct-to-consumer growth, and higher-margin brand heat. Adidas strengthened e-commerce, benefited from Yeezy demand, and pushed harder into lifestyle categories during his period. The upside was stronger cultural relevance and better perceived momentum against Nike in parts of the 2010s. The downside was concentration risk: Yeezy became too important to the growth and margin narrative, while wholesale relationships and North America execution remained uneven. His era ended as the Yeezy crisis, inventory problems, and brand-positioning concerns forced a leadership transition.
CEO
2001 – 2016
15 years
Herbert Hainer led Adidas through the era when the company tried to become a broader global sports portfolio rather than a primarily Adidas-branded business. His most visible decision was the 2006 Reebok acquisition, a $3.8B attempt to challenge Nike in North America and deepen exposure to U.S. Fitness and basketball. He also expanded emerging-market operations, strengthened sponsorships, and helped scale Adidas into a larger global brand. The measurable outcome was greater international reach, but the Reebok integration underperformed and later became evidence that Adidas could not buy North American relevance without a sharper brand role.
CEO
1993 – 2001
8 years
Robert Louis-Dreyfus is often credited with reviving Adidas after a period of strategic drift. He professionalized management, sharpened marketing, restored confidence in the brand, and helped move Adidas toward the modern public-company era. Under his leadership, the company improved its global commercial posture and reconnected performance credibility with more contemporary marketing. The measurable outcome was a stronger platform for the 1995 public listing and later expansion under Herbert Hainer. His era matters because it turned Adidas from a fading heritage asset into a serious Nike challenger again.
CEO
1987 – 1992
5 years
René C. Jäggi led Adidas during a difficult post-family-control period when the company was losing ground to Nike and Reebok and needed professional management discipline. His era was marked by restructuring, efforts to modernize the commercial organization, and attempts to stabilize a brand that had slipped from its earlier strong position. The measurable outcome was mixed: Adidas did not regain leadership under Jäggi, but the restructuring period helped prepare the company for later ownership and management changes. His tenure is important because it showed that heritage alone could not protect Adidas from faster, marketing-driven competitors.
Adidas faces intense competition from Nike, Puma, On Running, Hoka, New Balance, Anta, and Li Ning. The main risks are fashion-cycle volatility, North America underperformance, China demand shifts, endorsement risk after the Yeezy exit, inventory markdown pressure, and the challenge of rebuilding running credibility while protecting football and lifestyle momentum.
The CEO of Adidas AG is Bjorn Gulden, who became CEO in January 2023 after previously leading Puma.
Bjorn Gulden is the Adidas CEO in 2026.
Bjorn Gulden refocused Adidas on sport-led products, wholesale repair, lifestyle scarcity, and margin recovery after the Yeezy disruption.
Horst Dassler, Adolf's son, ran adidas's French subsidiary and became one of the most powerful figures in global sports marketing through the 1960s-1980s — though not as official CEO. He founded ISL (International Sport and Leisure), which secured FIFA and IOC broadcast and sponsorship rights, effectively controlling global sports commercial rights. Horst's vision was geopolitical and marketing-driven, contrasting with his father's product-obsessed engineering focus. Horst died suddenly in 1987 at age 51.
Herbert Hainer, who joined adidas in 1987 and became CEO in 2001, oversaw the company's most significant expansion period — revenue grew from €6 billion to €16.9 billion. He completed the Reebok acquisition (2006), signed adidas as a founding FIFA World Cup partner, and expanded aggressively into China. Hainer's tenure also included launching the Originals lifestyle business and the Y-3 Yohji Yamamoto collaboration, diversifying beyond performance sports.
Kasper Rørsted accelerated DTC growth, digital investment, and North American expansion from 2016-2022. He deepened the Yeezy partnership with Kanye West, which grew into adidas's most profitable product line but created singular dependency on one creator's reputation. Rørsted departed in November 2022, weeks after the Yeezy termination, having also been criticized for underinvesting in wholesale relationships and classic product lines that Björn Gulden subsequently revived.