Adidas AG may be exploring a sale of Reebok. The German sportswear giant is reportedly looking to sell the athletic brand and could decide in the next few months whether to move forward with the process, according to a source who spoke with Bloomberg. An internal review is said to be in the early stages, while Germany’s Manager Magazin indicated that Adidas plans to complete the sale by March 2021.
Among the parties interested in acquiring Reebok, wrote Manager Magazin, are Vans and Timberland parent VF Corp. as well as China’s Anta International Group Holdings Ltd. The report indicated that Adidas had written down the value of Reebok by almost half to 842 million euros (or about $995 million at current exchange) since 2018.
It’s been roughly 15 years since Adidas snapped up Reebok in a $3.8 billion deal. Over the years, Reebok has experienced declining revenues and both of its licensing contracts with the NFL and NBA have expired. Those issues, along with broader challenges surrounding its ability to resonate with U.S. consumers, have prompted analysts, to question whether Reebok’s future is strongly aligned with that of its parent.
Four years ago when he joined Adidas, CEO Kasper Rorsted helped launch a new business strategy for Reebok with the goal of returning it to profitability by 2020. Through its renewed focus on women’s footwear and the resurgence of ’90s fashion trends as well as its enlisting of influencers, including rap star Cardi B, the brand has managed to reintroduce itself to a hipper generation of consumers.