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Puma

Puma

Tagline

PUMA always looks to do better - we are Forever Faster

Net Worth

$5,000,000,000

Started in (City)

Herzogenaurach

Started in (Country)

Germany

Incorporation Date

01st December, 1948

Bankruptcy Date

-

Founders

  • Rudolf Dassler

About

Puma is a German multinational corporation which manufactures casual footwear, apparel, accessories. It founded on 1948 by Rudolf Dassler. The headquarters are in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Puma have about 13000 employees as of February 2019. The journey began with two brothers with a talent for making sports performance enhancing shoes. Rudolf and Adolf Dassler founded Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory in 1924. Their first major break was in the 1936 Olympics when world class athletes sported Dassler spikes and won gold medals. In January 1948, Rudolf Dassler was registered as a business and named as Ruda and company renamed as Puma in October 1948. Puma offers products for Basketball, Football, Running, Training and Fitness, Golf, Motorsports and Sport style. From2018 Puma became the official apparel sponsor of New Zealand’s national netball team, the Silver Ferns.

Beginning

Puma’s first major contribution to the football world was in 1952 when it released the Super Atom- first football boot with screw in studs. At the 1952 Summer Olympics, 1500 metres runner Josy Barthel of Luxembourg won PUMA’s first Olympic gold in Helsinki, Finland. In 1954, Puma Brazil shoes score as successfully as their predecessor. At that same year the first Puma running shoes contributed a part in the breaking of a World record. In1958 PUMA introduced its trademark formstrip logo. In the 1960’s Puma became famous for advanced production technique of vulcanization (a technique which bonds the sole and shaft of the shoe). This led to a more enhanced performance. The ’60s saw world famous athletes like Pelé and Portuguese football star Eusebio winning events and Puma was continuously in the spotlight. During Olympic in Tokyo on 1964 Triple Gold took.

Road to Success

Puma was in the spotlight in 1968 when athlete Tommie Smith and John Carlos, post Tommie’s gold medal win at a 200 m running event, raised fists in a power salute as a sign of protest against apartheid, racism and discrimination towards African Americans. PUMA became a public company in 1986, and thereafter was listed on the Börse München and Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In 1991, Puma launches the game changing Puma disc technology on a running shoe. The disc is the first lace less sports shoe with a system of internal wires. Puma drew world’s interest for innovative marketing in 1996 when Linford Christie showed up at a press conference wearing contact lenses with a white Puma cat emblazoned on them. In 1997, it launches of the Cellerator and in 1998 Puma signs Serena Williams. The 2000s focused mainly on Puma’s expanding line of football related products. Puma continues to make a name for itself in 2014 with the release of the evoPOWERfootball boot and the appearance of its innovative football products at the Brazil FIFA World Cup.

Challenges

In 1974 Rudolf Dassler was died on October 27. His sons Armin and Gerd inherited the company and they have some legal issues. After the legal dispute between both, Armin Dassler took over the company. In May 1989, Rudolf’s sons Armin and Gerd Dassler agreed to sell their 72% stake in PUMA to Swiss business Cosa Liebermann SA. In March 2018, Puma launched its venture with its ambassador Selena Gomez called "Phenom Lux’’. In 2018, Puma re-entered the basketball sneaker market for the first time in 20 years and announced Jay-Z will be the creative director for Puma Basketball. September 2020, Puma signed with Brazilian football superstar Neymar. Puma has been struggling for more than ten years and has been trying to refocus around key strategic objectives since 2009, which has seen its share of the market steadily erode.

Failures

Puma is spending a ton of money to shut down about 80 unprofitable European stores. That doesn't mean that people aren't buying Puma — the company actually reported a mild sales increase. But the costs of restructuring the business were simply too much. In 2018 Puma SE was struggling to keep up with consumers turning away from minimalist retro sneakers in favor of chunkier styles influenced by the fashion runway. Puma shares fell as much as 8.3 percent in early Frankfurt trading but regained some ground as the company said it’s rushing to adapt to the shift, capturing some of the new demand with models like the chunky Thunder.

Achievements

  • Puma is also known for boosting positive environmental practices in its supply chain through financial incentives. And these schemes won the “Innovation Award” in supply chain Finance in 2016.
  • Puma is the primary producer for Formula One clothing.
  • "The Guardian" released an article in May 2011, saying that it is the World’s first major company to put a value on its environmental impact.

Subsidies

  • The innovative Supply Chain Finance scheme implemented links the sustainability performance of key suppliers to the costs at which they can access finance.

CEOs

  • Bjørn Gulden
  • Franz Koch