The German sports equipment manufacturer Adidas has drawn a line under its American brand Reebok. The sale of Reebok to the American Authentic Brands Group for 2.1 billion euros has been completed, Adidas announced on Tuesday.
Authentic Brands Group, which owns brands such as Forever 21, Barney’s New York and Nine West and sports magazine Sports Illustrated, has paid the majority of the purchase price. Adidas will manage Reebok for a while during a transition phase in some markets.
Adidas bought Reebok in 2006 for more than 3 billion euros, but the brand has been underperforming for years and could never live up to expectations. So a year ago, Adidas announced that it wanted to sell Reebok.
As announced, Adidas will give a portion of the proceeds from the sale to shareholders. The German sports equipment manufacturer announced that it would buy up to 1.5 billion euros of its own shares from mid-March. This is in addition to the already announced plans to raise up to 4 billion by 2025.
