A shareholder of the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas has announced that it would vote against the proposal to again appoint Thomas Rabe at the upcoming general meeting on May 15 as the company’s supervisory board.
Allianz Global Investor, the 13th largest investor of Adidas, justified the rejection of the re -election of Rabe with the fact that this function was “too many commitments” in addition to its simultaneous commitments as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the RTL Group and as CEO of Bertelsmann Management.
In a post on LinkedIn, the investment group noted that Adidas had declared 2024 to grant Rabe a one -year extension in order to clarify his successor. The company had already expressed concerns at this point, although it approved the handover process. Since then, however, Adidas has neither presented the successor for the chair, nor, as Allianzgi said, presented “a convincing successor plan”.
Allianzgi therefore calls on Adidas to present the investor: in the inside a successor plan and ultimately one or a candidate: in presenting in order to enable enough time for a smooth handover. The company explained that this person should not be a manager and “really independent” during the transition period.
In a statement, Matt Christensen, Global Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing at Allianzgi, expressed his concern about “over-boarding” and “the importance of proactive succession planning”.
“A special focus is still on the successor plans. We want to understand the key competencies that the chairman needs to effectively lead the board and the way the search process is managed,” said Christensen. “The: The upcoming chairman should have pronounced leadership qualities, industry experience, undeniable independence and enough time to lead the board, especially in times of crisis.”
Rabe plans resignation 2026
In a fashionunited shareholder letter, Adidas dealt with the investor: Inside in the run -up to the Annual General Meeting. In it, Rabe asks the shareholders: inside, to give him trust for another year and admitted the concerns about the “technical over-boarding”. Rabe said that the original plan was to carry out a handover, “after a thorough review and detailed discussions within the nomination committee, the supervisory board and our CEO Bjørn Gulden, we have concluded that stability, continuity and experience at the head of the supervisory board for our business success are still of crucial importance”.
His explanation continued: “In the past two years, we have laid the foundation for persistently positive business development in 2025 and beyond. Therefore, we want to take advantage of the current opportunities, continue to gain significant market shares and significantly improve our competitive position in the long term, especially in view of the latest developments in our peer group. At the same time, the macro -economic and geopolitical challenges are increasing in the USA.”
This, combined with Rabes many years of experience with Adidas and other listed companies, prompted the board to ask him to re -election for another one -year term. Rabe confirmed that he was “ready to take this responsibility” and that he “had enough time to fulfill his role as chairman”.
At the end of 2026, Rabe intends to “finally” leave the company’s supervisory board.
This article was used with digital tools translated.
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