HISTORY OF ADDIDAS

Adidas is the world's second biggest sporting goods company.

 The Adidas AG has taken over Reebok too,creating a new chapter in its history.

THE FOUNDATION

Adidas was founded in 1948 by Adolf Dassler, following the split of Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik between him and his older brother Rudolf.

Rudolf later established Puma, which was the early rival of Adidas

The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars, and the same motif is incorporated into Adidas's current official logo. The "Three Stripes" were bought from Karhu Sports in 1951

 

 THE MIDDLE ERA

following the death of Adolf Dassler's son Horst Dassler in 1987, the company was bought in 1989 by French industrialist Bernard Tapie.  Tapie  was also deeply involved in politics.

He was Minister of Urban Affairs (ministre de la Ville) in the French government at the time.

Tapie was at the time a famous specialist of rescuing bankrupt companies, an expertise on which he built his fortune.

unable to pay the loan interest, Tapie mandated the Crédit Lyonnais bank to sell Adidas, and the bank subsequently converted the outstanding debt owed into equity of the enterprise

In February 1993, Crédit Lyonnais sold Adidas to Robert Louis-Dreyfus, a friend of Bernard Tapie for a much higher amount of money than what Tapie owed

Robert Louis-Dreyfus became the new CEO of the company. 

EXPANSION

Under the CEO Robert Louis-Dreyfus, adidas is moving from being a manufacturing and sales based company to a marketing company.

 

Adidas went public in 1995 and became the "Adidas Group"

Soon after they acquired Solomon Group 

and the New company was called Adidas-Solomon Group