The German sporting goods provider Puma SE and CEO Arne Freundt go separate ways. His successor has already been determined.
The current CEO and the Supervisory Board had “agreed that Arne Freund would have resigned from April 11, 2025 due to different opinions about the implementation of the strategy as CEO, and the company will leave in various management positions after 14 years,” said the company on Thursday.
Freundt had taken over the executive chair in early November 2022. After his predecessor Bjørn Gulden switched to competitor Adidas. Most recently, the company had submitted sobering figures under its leadership despite a savings program.
Friends designated successor to Puma is now going the reverse path. The company said that Arthur Hoeld will take over the position of the CEO on July 1. The 55-year-old had been responsible for global sales until last October on the board of ADIDAS AG.
Freundts designated successor Arthur Hoeld was most recently sales board at Adidas
“As a real sports fan, a former handball player and athlete, he came to Adidas in 1998 and had various management positions within the sports company, including in the areas of marketing, brand strategy and the management of the regions of Europe, the Middle East and Africa,” said Puma. During his time at Adidas, Hoeld, among other things, “successfully transformed the” Originals “division and achieved sales of more than seven billion euros”.
Supervisory Council leader Héloïse Temple-Boyer justified why the choice on Hoeld had been: “We are pleased with Arthur Hoeld a proven expert in the sports industry who has built up a strong commercial expertise in the past 26 years to appoint Puma CEO,” she said in a statement. “We are convinced that Arthur will lead to a new section of strength and growth with his strategic vision and focus on the product and brand Puma.”
The board will temporarily lead the company together
Between Freundt’s farewell and Hoeld’s introduction, the remaining board, which Maria Valdes (Chief Product Officer), Markus Neubrand (Chief Financial Officer) and Matthias Bäumer (Chief Commercial Officer), should be part of the company together. The management team enjoys “the full trust of the supervisory board,” said Puma.
Bäumer had only taken over his board position on April 1. The company veteran, which has been with Puma since 2007, was most recently responsible for Business Unit Teamsport. As a Chief Commercial Officer, the 59-year-old will now lead the company’s sales companies as well as the global direct-to-consumer and go-to-market organizations, “said the sporting goods.