Adidas’s incoming chief Kaspar Rorsted faces major challenges when he takes over as the global sports brand’s new CEO later this year as the company struggles to catch up with arch-rival Nike, analysts said.
Investors feted the announcement on Monday that Adidas had successfully poached the 53-year-old Dane from consumer chemicals giant Henkel, with the group’s shares the biggest gainers on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
Rorsted, who began his career in the IT sector in companies such as Oracle, Compaq and Hewlett Packard, has earned himself a reputation as "Mr Perfect". His main challenge, according to Cedric Rossi, an analyst at Bryan, Garnier and Co investment bank, will be to "ensure sustainable growth in the United States".