Adidas boss Kasper Rorsted resigns and resigns as CEO in 2023

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Departure:

Adidas boss Kasper Rorsted leaves in 2023

Photo: FrankHoermann/SVEN SIMON / picture alliance / SvenSimon

When

(60) announced his job change in January 2016, he became a billion dollar manager.

The market value of the adhesives and cosmetics group Henkel, which Rorsted had managed for eight years, fell by up to 2.2 billion euros that day - that of Adidas, his future employer, increased by up to 1.9 billion euros.

Investors hoped for immense increases in value from the management skills of a single man: Kasper Rorsted, the superstar – that's one side.

Even then, at about the same time, the other showed itself.

At least that's how several insiders describe it to manager magazin.

At the time, a member of the Henkel family called a long-serving Adidas board member. The call was a warning: the Henkels were taken by surprise that their most important manager was going to join Adidas, but they were also glad to see him go.

His methods were too harsh, his style too rough.

The caller asked why no one from Herzogenaurach had asked them in Düsseldorf about Rorsted's working methods before Rorsted's appointment.

Then Rorsted might never have become CEO of the second largest sports goods company in the world.

Now, six and a half years later, the Rorsted era is coming to a premature end.

Adidas is looking for a new boss.

Rorsted and the supervisory board had mutually agreed that he would leave office in 2023, the Dax group surprisingly announced on Monday.

The manager will continue in office until a successor is appointed.

According to information from manager magazin, large investors such as the Belgian holding Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), which holds 7.1 percent of the capital of the Herzogenaurach-based group, have lost patience with Rorsted.

Most recently, the new governor of GBL in Germany,

, is said to have underlined the impatience of the Belgian billionaire family Frère with Rorsted in a small group.

A spokesman for GBL did not want to comment on the current events.

Adidas had lowered its forecasts at the end of July due to problems in China and an expected weaker consumer mood in other countries.

Rorsted had tried to prevent a profit warning for months, now it was inevitable: instead of growth of 11 to 13 percent, Rorsted only expects mid to high single-digit growth for 2022, instead of an operating margin of 9.4, he only expects it 7 percent.

Adidas is currently only worth around 30.7 billion euros on the stock exchange.

Within a year, the share price has collapsed by around half;

it is now at a level that is even lower than in the worst Corona months of 2020, when Rorsted had to beg the state for a credit line of 2.4 billion euros.

In his early years at Adidas, Rorsted confirmed investors' advance praise.

The global brand with the trial pope and McKinsey disciple - that seemed like the perfect symbiosis.

The Dane trimmed the group for efficiency.

The share price rose and rose.

What the investors particularly liked: Rorsted pushed the traditionally meager profitability by centralizing the group management and strict cost management.

His predecessor, today's FC Bayern Munich President

(68), failed because of this for a long time.

In markets like North America -- declared a top priority by Rorsted to attack main rival Nike -- the three-stripe brand grew vigorously again.

Rorsted finally managed to give the sneaker and shirt group powerful online sales, which now accounts for around a fifth of sales.

And he swept through the portfolio, for example by finally selling the long-starving US brand Reebok, which Adidas had never managed to get a grip on even under him.

Rorsted initially made a name for himself as an optimizer like no other company leader in Germany.

Manager magazin named him manager of the year for his star role in 2019, but not without pointing out that it is also a special discipline.

And indeed: Cracks soon appeared in Rorsted's balance sheet, which manager magazin reported on in a detailed cover story for the first time in January 2021.

Rough management style

His often rough management style led to frustration among many Adidas managers.

Long-time top people like Marketing Director

(55) left Adidas unnerved.

The brand man had always preached that a global sports brand cannot be managed purely by numbers like just any company, that it needs empathetic and generous leadership in order to be able to develop the necessary creativity.

His farewell party after more than a quarter of a century in the group seemed almost as if a king was being buried.

In retrospect, the departure at the end of 2019 seemed to many like the harbinger of a dark epoch.

Adidas seemed increasingly exhausted.

He soon threw out top people such as Operations

(59) or HR

(57), whom Rorsted himself had brought into office, because he blamed them for gross mistakes.

Internally, Rorsted's tough style sparked a culture war, at least that's how many saw it.

With the outbreak of the Corona crisis in early 2020, the deficits in Rorsted's management style and strategy became increasingly clear.

The CEO publicly made a fool of himself because Adidas no longer wanted to pay the rent for many stores during the first lockdowns.

Then he even had to apply for state aid because the group – which had bought back its own shares for billions of euros in previous years to maintain its share price – did not appear to be able to raise fresh money at short notice due to a lack of a rating.

Internally, opposition to the CEO grew.

Numerous long-serving executives fled.

The departure of Asia boss

, who said goodbye to self-employment with dissatisfaction, turned out to be particularly painful.

Currie was a star internally because he had rapidly ramped up business in China with his broad network of contacts.

As the father of the winning machine, he earned more than some board members at the head office.

After the Rainmaker disappeared, Rorsted never got a good handle on the important market.

Most recently, Adidas had to record massive losses there - in the second quarter alone, sales collapsed by 35 percent as a result of the lockdowns and delivery difficulties.

Rorsted frequently filled vacancies with industry newcomers and ex-consultants.

In the eyes of many, the group, which for a long time also lived from the enthusiasm of its employees for sports and brands, degenerated into a company driven solely by finance.

(51), responsible for global operations

, rose to become Rorsted's favorite board member .

The Australian, a trained accountant, monitors Rorsted's efficiency targets and has set up the infamous Cost Control Tower, through which every major expense runs.

The fact that investors increasingly accused Adidas of hardly bringing any innovative products onto the market fitted the picture for many insiders.

Left behind by Nike and Lululemon

Investors were starting to get nervous.

Competitors such as Nike and Puma fared much better on the stock market.

Even a newcomer like the yoga brand Lululemon, which only generates a quarter of Adidas' sales, was at times worth more on the stock exchange than the traditional group from Franconia.

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Most recently, at the beginning of August, Rorsted presented few edifying figures for the first half of the year.

Sales grew by only five percent to around 10.9 billion euros, and the operating margin melted down to 7.6 percent.

Adidas will shrink this year, especially in China.

Profits from continuing operations will fall by around a third to 1.3 billion euros.

And in the warehouses, the shoes and shirts that were produced but unfortunately could not be sold are piling up.

Inventories grew by 35 percent in the first half of the year.

Now the investors have had enough.

Rorsted, whose contract was prematurely extended by five years to 2026 in 2020, will leave the company in 2023 and the search for a successor is ongoing.

Chairman of the Supervisory Board

(57) thanked Rorsted in the company's official statement on Monday "for his great achievements".

Rabe, Bertelsmann CEO in his main job, replaced long-time supervisor

(78) at Adidas in the summer of 2020.

He and Rorsted are considered confidants, and the Dane himself sat on the Bertelsmann Supervisory Board for a long time.

But apparently Rabe had also come to the conclusion that things couldn't go on like this.

Just like RTL, by the way, where he overthrew

(48) after his vacation.

It is quite possible that Kasper Rorstad will leave Adidas earlier.

The Superstar is now a Lame Duck.