On stage with Hainer will be internal candidates for his job, brand chief Eric Liedtke and sales head Roland Auschel. The board is also looking outside, part of “a long-term process that has just begun,” Hainer wrote in his letter to employees. The company declined to comment on calls for Hainer’s early departure.
The No. 2 athletic gear maker -- sponsor of soccer’s quadrennial World Cup since 1970 and of last year’s top two teams, Germany and Argentina -- last summer said it wouldn’t reach targets of 17 billion euros in revenue and an operating margin of 11 percent for 2015. adidas zx 850  is now predicting sales of roughly 15.5 billion euros and a margin of 6.5 percent to 7 percent this year as it boosts marketing. After the world financial crisis in 2008, the company also abandoned targets for 2009.
Nike, the world’s top supplier of sports gear, on March 19 said its sales for the quarter ended in February rose 7 percent from a year ago and its profit margin widened to 14 percent -- double Adidas’.
“adidas springblade  makes really good products,” said John Guy, an analyst at brokerage MainFirst AG in London. The problem is, “they don’t know how to communicate them to consumers.”