Adidas' Stock Bounced Back After A Nightmare 3 Years — For Nike, It's Still Going

Adidas has been all in on its turnaround, with new CEO Bjørn Gulden, appointed in 2023, working quickly to reverse the 75-year-old company’s fortunes. So far, it’s going well.

Thanks to continued demand for its famous Samba shoes, coupled with a strong festive period, the “brand with the three stripes” reported better-than-expected profits in Q4 2024, with the company’s shares now up ~10% in the last week.

Rival Nike hasn’t been so lucky. Indeed, Nike is on its own turnaround plan under newly appointed CEO Elliott Hill. Having spent more than three decades at the iconic sports brand, Hill now helms a company facing a very different landscape to the one that Phil Knight, Nike’s founder, navigated.

Long gone are the days when Nike was the plucky upstart. The goliath of the industry is struggling to get rid of its inventory of once high-performing products like Dunk and Air Force 1s, and newcomers like On Running and Hoka are nipping at its heels.

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