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Adidas is replacing its supervisory board chairman and extending the contract of the CEO who brought the German sportswear giant back from its worst crisis in decades, the company announced Wednesday, tidying up two of its most pressing governance questions in a single day.
The company said it would propose Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris to succeed Thomas Rabe as chairman at its annual general meeting on May 7 in Fürth, Germany. Separately, it confirmed that CEO Bjorn Gulden's contract had been extended through the end of 2030, locking in the Norwegian executive who has overseen a remarkable three-year turnaround since taking charge in January 2023.
Sawiris, 65, has been a member of Adidas's supervisory board since 2016 and has served as deputy chairman since 2025. He holds a significant stake in the company through his family investment vehicle NNS, which the company said underscores his long-term commitment and alignment with shareholder interests. If approved by shareholders in May, he would become the most prominent and commercially connected chairman Adidas has had in years, a billionaire with operating experience across construction, chemicals, energy and sports who has sat close enough to the business to know what he is inheriting.
Rabe's exit, by contrast, has been a long time coming. He has chaired Adidas's supervisory board since August 2020 while simultaneously serving as CEO of Bertelsmann and RTL Group, a workload that became a flashpoint for investor discontent. At the 2025 annual general meeting, shareholders reelected him by just 64.4% of votes, a narrow enough margin in corporate governance terms to constitute a serious rebuke. Major institutional investors including Allianz Global Investors and Deka had voted against him, arguing he could not give Adidas sufficient attention given his other commitments. Proxy advisory firm ISS had recommended against his reappointment the year before. Rabe survived two successive revolts but the board had already been searching for a successor. Sawiris is that successor.
The Gulden extension carries less drama but equal significance. When Gulden arrived at Adidas in early 2023, the company was reeling from the sudden collapse of its Yeezy partnership with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, which had contributed hundreds of millions of euros in annual revenue that vanished almost overnight. Gulden inherited a brand that had posted a loss and was scrambling to understand how exposed it had let itself become to a single celebrity relationship.
What followed was one of the more impressive corporate recoveries in recent European business history. Gulden refocused the company on performance sport, invested in college athletics in the United States, leaned into the terrace and lifestyle trend that made the Samba and Gazelle two of the most sought-after shoes on the market and rebuilt margins with a disciplined approach to full-price selling and inventory management. By 2025, Adidas had posted record full-year revenues of 24.8 billion euros, up 13% in currency-neutral terms for the second consecutive year. Operating profit climbed more than 700 million euros to 2.06 billion euros, lifting the operating margin to 8.3%. The company launched a 1 billion euro share buyback and headed into 2026 with the Winter Olympics in Italy and the FIFA World Cup on the calendar.
Adidas shares fell as much as 7% Wednesday after the company's 2026 profit outlook, which forecast operating profit of around 2.3 billion euros, came in below what analysts had expected, partly because of U.S. tariffs and a weaker dollar that the company said would knock around 400 million euros off earnings this year. The leadership news was overshadowed by the guidance miss in early trading.
The supervisory board also announced that Mathias Dopfner, the chief executive of Axel Springer, would be proposed as a new board member at the May meeting, bringing digital media and brand-building experience to a company that has put consumer engagement at the center of its recovery. Ian Gallienne, chairman of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, was proposed for re-election.
Sawiris said he looked forward to continuing close collaboration with Gulden and the executive team as Adidas headed into its next chapter. Rabe said Sawiris's entrepreneurial background and significant shareholding made him well suited to represent shareholder interests going forward.
The May 7 vote in Fürth will formally determine whether the transition proceeds. Given the investor frustration that surrounded Rabe's reelections and the institutional logic of replacing him with a long-serving, deeply invested board member, the outcome is unlikely to surprise anyone.
