Research Paper-Merger of Adidas and Reebok

Research Paper-Merger of Adidas and Reebok

  • Submitted By: qu09zz
  • Date Submitted: 09/26/2013 8:53 AM
  • Category: Business
  • Words: 3017
  • Page: 13
  • Views: 165

Team Assignment

---Merger of Adidas and Reebok

History of Adidas
The company’s creator Adi Dassler’s aim was to provide every athlete with the best equipment. It began in 1920, when Adi Dassler made his first shoes, using the few materials after the First World War. In 1949, Adi Dassler first registered adidas in the commercial register in Fürth. The key products are: running, football, basketball and training equipment. (Adidas-group, 2009)
On January 31, 2006, adidas AG acquired Reebok International Ltd. The merger with the Reebok transaction marked a new chapter in the history of the adidas-group. The new Group benefits from a more competitive worldwide platform, well-defined and complementary brand identities, a wider range of products. Today, the adidas Group is Europe’s biggest supplier of athletic footwear and sports apparel. (Adidas-group, 2010)
History of Reebok
English runner Joseph Foster invented a spiked running shoe in 1894. Other runners liked it so much that Foster started his own shoe company, JW Foster and Sons, in 1894. Two of Foster's grandsons formed a companion company, Reebok (named for a speedy African antelope), in 1958. (Reebok, 2010)
Reebok remained a small British shoe company until 1979, when Paul Fireman noticed the shoes at a Chicago international trade show. He quickly acquired the exclusive North American license to sell Reebok shoes.
Reebok is global brand that creates and markets sports and lifestyle products built in sports, fitness and women’s categories. (Reebok, 2010)
About the merger
Companies large and small achieve growth and improve profitability by expanding their operations, often by developing and selling new products or selling current products to new groups of customers in different geographic areas. Such growth when carefully planned and controlled, is usually beneficial to the firm and ultimately helps it reach its goal of enhanced profitability. But companies also grow by merging with or...

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