--- title: Adidas's Bjorn Gulden turnaround: how a Puma poached CEO sold off the post-Yeezy inventory and restored brand momentum | RGM® url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/adidas-brand-repositioning-campaign/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/adidas-brand-repositioning-campaign/ --- - **Story:** Bjorn Gulden started as Adidas CEO January 1, 2023 after running Puma since 2013, replacing Kasper Rorsted who was pressured out after the October 2022 end of the Kanye West Yeezy partnership left ~$1.3B of unsold Yeezy inventory. Gulden executed a measured Yeezy sell-off (with profits partially donated to antisemitism organizations), revived Samba and Gazelle franchises into 2023-2024 lifestyle peaks, and restored revenue growth. Stock recovered from €125 low (March 2023) to €230+ mid-2024. - **Why it matters:** The Gulden Adidas turnaround is the worked example of measured-recovery CEO execution and cross-industry executive poaching: hiring directly from a credible competitor with demonstrated playbook. - **Takeaway:** Measured execution allowing time for market absorption usually beats dramatic single-move strategies. - **Takeaway:** Inherited inventory crises require patient sell-off discipline; destruction or fire-sale both damage brand equity. - **Takeaway:** Cross-industry executive poaching from credible competitors is structurally more reliable than generalist 'great operator' hires. ## Adidas Gulden turnaround — the four-step story S Situation Adidas inherited Yeezy inventory crisis, weakened brand momentum, and underperforming categories After Kanye West's October 2022 antisemitic comments, Adidas terminated the Yeezy partnership but was left with ~$1.3B of unsold inventory and a damaged Three Stripes brand. CEO Kasper Rorsted was pressured out by a board already losing confidence on China, running, and product innovation. T Task Hire a category-experienced turnaround CEO; manage Yeezy inventory; restore brand momentum without dramatic moves Recruit Bjorn Gulden from Puma where he had tripled revenue over a decade. Mandate covers patient Yeezy sell-off, franchise revival, and category-by-category brand repair. A Action Phased Yeezy sell-off with donated profits; Samba and Gazelle revival; lifestyle/retro investment; performance categories slow recovery Gulden's measured execution avoided the impulse to compress recovery. Yeezy inventory cleared with substantial profits partially donated to antisemitism organizations. Samba and Gazelle became 2023-2024 fashion peaks. Adidas Originals revenue grew sharply. R Result Revenue recovery, stock from €125 to €230+, lifestyle leadership restored; performance categories still weak The recovery is real but uneven. Lifestyle/retro categories have recovered strongly. Performance running and basketball remain weak relative to Nike, On, Hoka, New Balance. The Gulden tenure has produced measured-execution outcomes that validate the cross-industry executive-poaching hypothesis. ## Adidas Gulden turnaround at a glance ~$0B Yeezy inventory inherited 2022 Completed product, no immediate path to market Source: Adidas disclosures €0+ Stock recovery 2023 to mid-2024 From March 2023 low Source: XETRA ADS historical 0 years Gulden's Puma tenure pre-Adidas 2013-2022; tripled Puma revenue Source: Puma corporate communications 0% Yeezy share of Adidas revenue at peak Before October 2022 partnership end Source: Adidas / industry estimates 0 Gulden Adidas start date Announced November 2022 Source: Adidas press release 0 Gulden contract runs through With extension options Source: Adidas DEF 14A #### Quick facts Companyadidas AG (XETRA: ADS) Gulden start dateJanuary 1, 2023 ReplacedKasper Rorsted (CEO 2016-2022) Gulden prior rolePuma CEO 2013-2022 Yeezy partnership endedOctober 25, 2022 (after Kanye West antisemitism) Yeezy inventory writedown estimate~€500M+ at peak; eventual sales recovered most Stock low 2023€125 (March 2023) Stock mid-2024€230+ **Honest note** The Yeezy-Adidas breakup followed Kanye West's October 2022 antisemitic comments. Adidas's decision to end the partnership was widely supported but created the inventory and revenue problem that Gulden inherited. Gulden's compensation package and his arrival as CEO directly from rival Puma generated some controversy (Puma sued Adidas over non-compete issues that were settled). The brand recovery has been real but is concentrated in lifestyle/retro categories; performance running and basketball remain weak relative to Nike and to upstart competitors. ## The Yeezy crisis and the inherited inventory problem The Adidas-Yeezy partnership had been one of the most commercially successful sneaker collaborations in modern history. Launched in 2015, the partnership had grown to represent approximately 8-10% of Adidas's revenue and a disproportionately high share of profit (estimates suggested ~$1.5B in revenue and ~$500-700M in operating profit annually). Yeezy product launched in tight allocations and resold at multiples of retail; the partnership was a brand-equity flywheel for Adidas with athletes, creators, and fashion-aligned consumers. Kanye West's October 2022 antisemitic comments forced Adidas to end the partnership on October 25, 2022. The decision was widely supported but operationally severe: approximately $1.3 billion of completed Yeezy product was sitting in Adidas warehouses with no immediate path to market. The board, which had already been losing confidence in Kasper Rorsted on other strategic issues (China underperformance, weak run-up performance, slow product innovation), accelerated his exit. Adidas announced in November 2022 that Bjorn Gulden would join as CEO effective January 1, 2023. ## Why Bjorn Gulden Gulden had been CEO of Puma since 2013, where he was credited with turning around what had been a declining brand. Puma's revenue had roughly tripled during his tenure (from approximately €3B to €8B+), the brand had regained cultural relevance in lifestyle and basketball, and the company had returned to consistent profitability. His Puma playbook had several elements: product-design discipline, athlete and creator partnerships at appropriate scale (not blockbuster), authentic communication, and patient brand-building. The Puma board reportedly tried to retain Gulden when Adidas approached; Puma subsequently sued Adidas over non-compete arrangements that were eventually settled. The Adidas board's calculation was that Gulden's combination of athletic-footwear category experience and turnaround credentials matched the specific situation Adidas faced. The Yeezy crisis required someone who could resist the temptation to rush the recovery; the broader brand challenges required someone who understood athletic-footwear specifically. ## The Yeezy inventory plan and the broader strategic moves Gulden's first major operational decision was the Yeezy inventory plan, announced in May 2023: - **Phased sell-off through Adidas channels**, not destroyed and not given away. Phased to avoid market flooding that would have destroyed Yeezy price equity. - **Significant profits donated to organizations addressing antisemitism**, including ADL and various Jewish community organizations. Specific amounts not disclosed but reportedly hundreds of millions of euros. - **No further Yeezy product development**: the partnership was terminated and not replaced with similar Kanye-led product. - **Multiple drops through 2023 and into 2024**, allowing inventory to clear without sudden discounting. - **Operational discipline avoiding inventory writeoffs**: the patient sell-off mostly avoided the major writedowns analysts had initially expected. ## The Samba and Gazelle revival and the lifestyle pivot Alongside the Yeezy management, Gulden focused on reviving Adidas's classic Three Stripes franchises. The Samba (originally a 1950s indoor-soccer shoe) and the Gazelle (1968 athletic shoe) had both been periodic lifestyle hits in earlier decades. Gulden's team pushed them aggressively through 2023-2024: - **Samba's resurgence** was substantial: the model became one of the most-Googled sneakers globally through 2023, with celebrity endorsements (Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, multiple others) driving the trend. - **Gazelle followed similar trajectory** as a parallel franchise with slightly different colorway and demographic focus. - **Both franchises were structurally inventory-efficient**: long-running products with established production infrastructure could scale quickly to meet demand. - **Adidas Originals revenue grew sharply** in 2023 and into 2024 on the back of these and adjacent lifestyle products. - **Performance running and basketball remained weak**: while lifestyle/retro was the recovery story, Adidas's running and basketball positioning continued to lose ground to Nike, On, Hoka, and others. The recovery was real but unevenly distributed across categories. ## How RGM thinks about measured-recovery CEO execution The Gulden Adidas turnaround is the worked example of measured-recovery execution: avoiding the impulse to compress recovery timing, allowing inventory to clear at appropriate price, and focusing brand investment on franchises where the recovery momentum is real. The Yeezy inventory plan particularly shows discipline: a less patient CEO would have either destroyed the inventory (eating the writedown but signaling moral clarity) or aggressively discounted it (recovering cash but destroying brand equity). Gulden's phased sell-off with donated profits captured most of the inventory value while addressing the moral dimension and protecting brand pricing. Our framework for clients facing similar inherited-crisis situations: the temptation to make a single dramatic move (full inventory destruction, complete brand reboot, mass restructuring) is usually wrong. Measured execution allowing time for market and consumer behavior to absorb each change usually produces better long-term outcomes. The Adidas-Gulden situation also illustrates the value of cross-industry executive poaching: hiring directly from a credible competitor with demonstrated playbook is structurally more reliable than hiring a generalist 'great operator' without category-specific experience. ## Frequently asked questions Did the Yeezy inventory sell-off actually work? Mostly yes. The phased sell-off captured most of the inventory value, with reported profits substantial enough to fund the donations to antisemitism organizations and contribute meaningfully to Adidas operating profit through 2023. Some inventory remained unsold and was eventually written down, but the writedowns were much smaller than analysts had initially projected. The strategy validated Gulden's measured-execution approach. Has Adidas actually recovered competitively? Partially. Lifestyle and retro have recovered strongly (Samba, Gazelle, Originals broadly). Performance running and basketball remain weak relative to Nike, On, Hoka, and New Balance. The brand's overall positioning has improved but the category leadership in athletic performance has not been restored. The recovery is real but uneven. What about Puma after Gulden's departure? Puma's post-Gulden performance has been mixed. Arne Freundt became CEO in November 2022, then was replaced by Arthur Hoeld (the former Adidas global brands head) in 2024. The Puma board has been navigating Hoeld's adjustment with mixed results. Puma's revenue growth has slowed from Gulden's tenure but has not collapsed. Is the Samba bubble going to burst? Likely yes at some point. Fashion-cycle lifestyle sneakers historically have multi-year peaks followed by demand normalization. The Samba's 2023-2024 peak is unlikely to sustain at the same level indefinitely. Adidas's strategy under Gulden has been to extend the franchise's revenue contribution as long as possible while investing in the next generation of franchises that can take over. Whether the next generation materializes is the open question. Will Gulden stay at Adidas long-term? His contract runs through 2026 with extension options. Gulden has stated he intends to complete the multi-year recovery he is executing. The early indicators (revenue growth, share-price recovery, operating-margin recovery) suggest the board is satisfied with his work. Long-term tenure depends on continued execution and on how Adidas's performance categories (running, basketball) develop. ### Sources & references - [Gulden appointment announcement](https://www.adidas-group.com/en/media/news-archive/press-releases/2022/adidas-supervisory-board-appoints-bjoern-gulden-as-new-ceo/) — Adidas official announcement. - [Yeezy inventory plan coverage](https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/adidas-sell-some-yeezy-stockpile-donate-portion-proceeds-2023-05-11/) — Reuters coverage of Yeezy plan. - [Financial Times Gulden profile](https://www.ft.com/content/bjorn-gulden-adidas-puma) — FT profile of Gulden Adidas tenure. - [Samba revival coverage](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-21/adidas-samba-sneaker-sales-bjorn-gulden) — Bloomberg coverage of Samba franchise resurgence. - [Adidas investor relations](https://www.adidas-group.com/en/investors/) — Adidas financial reports and investor presentations. ## Related [#### All case studies The full case-study library.](/learn/case-studies/)[#### Nike Hill turnaround Adjacent 2024 athletic-brand turnaround.](/learn/case-studies/nike-brand-repositioning-campaign/)[#### Adidas-Yeezy breakup The Yeezy crisis that triggered the Gulden hire.](/learn/case-studies/adidas-yeezy-kanye-2022-breakup-cautionary/)[#### Starbucks Niccol turnaround Adjacent 2024 turnaround CEO case.](/learn/case-studies/starbucks-brand-repositioning-campaign/)