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Puma has replaced chief executive Arne Freundt with Adidas’s former sales head Arthur Hoeld, ending a two-and-a-half-year tenure during which the German sportswear group’s shares halved in value.
The company said Freundt, who started the job in November 2022 after former chief executive Bjørn Gulden was poached by domestic rival Adidas, was leaving after 14 years with Puma “due to differing views on strategy execution”.
The update came after the US on Wednesday announced new tariffs on Puma’s key manufacturing bases, including Vietnam and China, in measures set to have a major impact on sportswear retailers. Puma shares fell 11 per cent in afternoon trading, in line with Adidas and Nike.
Puma had already warned last month that trade disputes would hit sales growth this year. At the time, Freundt said he was “not satisfied” with the company’s “stagnant profitability” and promised “decisive actions” including cost-cutting, closing unprofitable stores and simplifying its product range.
Puma has largely missed out on the retro trainer boom that has fuelled growth at rival Adidas, and its shares are down by more than 50 per cent over the past year, compared with a 3 per cent fall in Adidas’s stock.
Hoeld was Adidas’s head of global sales until October, and before that responsible for its “Originals” division, which includes retro trainers such as Gazelle and Samba. He left Adidas’s executive board after less than two years, but had worked at the company since 1998.
Hoeld said in a statement on Thursday that he would focus on “sports authenticity” and an “exciting brand proposition” for Puma going forward.
Hoeld will take over as Puma’s chief executive in July. Until then, the company will be run by chief financial officer Markus Neubrand, chief product officer Maria Valdes and the also newly-appointed chief commercial officer Matthias Bäumer.
