It’s been nine days since Puma boss Björn Gulden, 57, was asked if he might become the new CEO of Adidas. As is well known, Germany’s largest and the world’s second largest manufacturer of sporting goods has been looking for a successor for its recently unsuccessful CEO Kasper Rorsted, whose departure has long been a decision. “I have no offer from Adidas,” said Gulden tight-lipped when journalists asked him about the possible transfer at a conference call. However, Gulden did not want to explicitly rule him out either. With good reason, because the spectacular change of sides is now actually becoming a reality.
On Friday afternoon, Adidas confirmed that the group was “in talks” with Gulden. According to reports, these are already well advanced. Shortly before, Puma had surprisingly announced that he would let his contract expire after nine years at the end of the year and not extend it. “I think now is the right time for Puma, for my successor and for me to leave the company,” the company quoted him as saying in a press release. “I still have a lot of energy for an operational role for the next five to ten years, but that would have been too long for Puma.” But not for a new chief post, namely that of the local rival Adidas in Herzogenaurach. Corresponding speculation immediately ran rampant, especially since that manager magazine reported the change as a done deal. All of this immediately fired the imagination of investors – the price of the Adidas share, which had been weak for a long time, immediately shot up.
A direct change from the big cat brand to the one with the three stripes – that has never happened at the top managerial level. Nor vice versa. The decades-long rivalry between the two companies, which has its origins in the fact that they were founded by two brothers: Puma by Rudolf and Adidas by Adolf “Adi” Dassler, has so far run too deep. They had fallen out and split up their joint sports shoe factory in Herzogenaurach in the late 1940s. From then on, not only the small town, but also the sports world was divided into two irreconcilable camps: the Adidas and the Puma world. Like the two founding brothers, who had nothing to say to each other for the rest of their lives. Switching from one brand to another used to be considered almost treason.
Gulden would return to familiar territory
But times have changed. Two warring family companies became two listed rivals. Now the breaking of the taboo actually seems to be becoming a reality. Whereby Björn Gulden would return to familiar territory. Before joining Deichmann in 2000, the former professional footballer worked for Adidas for a number of years. Despite all the explosiveness, Puma tried to keep the proverbial ball flat on Friday. At the same time, Gulden’s successor, Arne Freundt, 42, was presented – everything should look like an orderly transition. Freundt has worked for Puma for more than ten years and has been a member of the board since June 2021. He is “a recognized leader”, according to Héloïse Temple-Boyer, Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Puma SE. Freundt has a four-year contract beginning January 1, 2023.
It is still unclear whether Björn Gulden will take a seat in the executive chair just a few hundred meters away in the Adidas headquarters “World of Sports” on the same day. Normally, clauses in manager contracts exclude such changes on the fly and require a cooling-off phase of at least several months. This is to prevent someone from taking current insider knowledge to the competition. Gulden’s departure still hits Puma very hard. The always communicative, former soccer professional had taken over Puma in the middle of a crisis as CEO. It was mainly triggered by the fact that the big cat brand had lost its identity as a sports brand. Just as determined as it was successful, Gulden corrected the undesirable developments and realigned the brand.