Who owns the major sports brands?

The Chinese firm Anta Sports recently acquired a large percentage of Puma's shares, and we review the structure of the German brand and its competitors.

Anta purchased 29.06% of Puma from the Pinault family (Groupe Artémis) for approximately $1.8 billion, becoming the largest individual shareholder. The remaining 71% is distributed among investment funds, with Schroders (5%), Barclays Bank (3%), and Norges Bank (3%) being the most influential institutions.

Adidas has a structure similar to Puma and is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The American firm BlackRock is the main shareholder (approx. 7%), followed by Norges Bank and Amundi (5% each) and Vanguard (4%).

The case of Nike is different. While the Knight family (Swoosh LLC, its founders) owns around 20% of the economic capital, they hold 97% of the "Class A" shares, which grants them the voting rights to determine who controls the company. The "Class B" shares are those traded on the stock market, with Vanguard (7%) and BlackRock (6%) holding the largest percentages outside of the family.