- Adidas just released its earnings, and its performance was better than expected.
- CEO Bjørn Gulden was appointed as the company was reeling after the end of its Yeezy collection.
- Gulden, a former athlete, refocused on Adidas' classic Samba sneaker, popular with Gen Z.
Adidas announced its annual earnings for 2023 this week, and its performance was better than expected despite its Yeezy controversy.
The company's operating profit reached 268 million euros ($293 million) during the year, exceeding expectations after it forecasted a 700 million euro loss. And despite a decline in North American sales — which it expects to continue through 2024 — it's forecasting sales to grow at a mid-single-digit rate globally this year.
Since it terminated its lucrative partnership with Ye, formerly Kanye West, Adidas was left with millions of dollars worth of Yeezy inventory. And new CEO, Bjørn Gulden, was tasked with finding out what to do with it.
The former athlete didn't set out to become a CEO: "I'd rather be Manuel than CEO of Adidas," he said at the Euro 2024 tournament, The FT reported. He was referring to German national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Gulden began his career playing soccer for national leagues in Germany and Norway before an injury forced him to retire. He pivoted to work at Adidas in the '90s across various roles before becoming CEO of rival firm Puma.
At Puma, he was credited with boosting growth and building the brand's reputation through partnerships with celebrities like Rihanna and Jay-Z before Adidas poached him in January 2023.
One of his first tasks as Adidas CEO was to deal with the deadstock of Yeezy sneakers, which the company ceased selling in light of West's repeated antisemitic comments. If the inventory was destroyed, Adidas risked losing over $1 billion in sales.
Gulden opted to continue the sale of Yeezy's at cost but donate a portion of the profits to charities like the Anti-Defamation League. It ensured the stock didn't go to waste while not overlooking the controversy.
In his first call with analysts and journalists last year as company CEO, he announced that Adidas would refocus on wholesale and jump on the momentum of the popularity of Adidas' classic sneaker silhouettes.
Gulden has successfully ramped up production of Adidas' Samba and Gazelle sneakers. The low-top shoes are a staple of the 1990s style that has become popular with Gen Z.
"We currently have maybe the hottest shoe in the market … and it's the Adidas Samba," Gulden said on an earnings call last year.
His leadership style is known for being hands-on. Some people inside the company have called his approach "erratic," per the FT. And one employee who worked closed with him at Adidas said he "rarely listens to his team," the outlet wrote.
Adidas didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
At the beginning of his tenure, Gulden gave 60,000 employees his phone number at an Adidas town hall. The Wall Street Journal reported that he got 200 calls a week from employees asking to implement changes.
"Some people think I'm crazy," he told the Journal.
