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Wall Street Journal
14-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Adidas Shareholders to Oppose Chair's Re-Election
Some Adidas ADS 0.09%increase; green up pointing triangle shareholders said they plan to oppose the re-election of supervisory-board chairman Thomas Rabe at the company's annual general meeting, citing the lack of a succession plan. Rabe, chief executive of both German media group Bertelsmann and its listed broadcasting arm RTL Group RRTL -0.46%decrease; red down pointing triangle, has chaired the supervisory board of the German sporting-goods company since 2020. Adidas shareholders are set to vote on a proposal for him to remain in the role for an additional year at the annual meeting scheduled for Thursday.
Reuters
13-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Adidas investor AllianzGI to vote against chair's reelection at AGM
LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - A leading investor in German sportswear company Adidas ( opens new tab said on Monday it plans to vote against the reelection of Chair Thomas Rabe at the company's annual shareholders' meeting on Thursday because he holds too many roles at other companies. Despite being concerned about the so-called "overboarding" last year, Allianz Global Investors - the 13th biggest investor in Adidas, according to LSEG data - said it had supported Rabe's reelection on the basis that the company would find a replacement. Since then, the company has not presented a successor or laid out a "convincing" succession plan, Allianz said in a statement. "We want to understand the key competencies required for the incoming chair to effectively lead the board, as well as how the search process is managed," said Matt Christensen, Global Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing at AllianzGI. "The incoming chair should possess strong leadership skills, industry experience, unquestionable independence, and enough time to lead the board, especially in times of crisis." Rabe is Chief Executive Officer at both RTL Group and at Bertelsmann, the media conglomerate that owns RTL. Adidas did not immediately reply to a request for comment. AllianzGI's statement comes after leading proxy advisor Institutional Shareholders Services for the second year recommended investors vote against Rabe's reelection, saying he has too many roles at other companies and that the board is "insufficiently gender diverse". Proxy advisor Glass Lewis recommended investors vote for Rabe's reelection, but that they reject Adidas' executive compensation, saying the company has not engaged sufficiently with shareholders after 41% of them voted against the remuneration report last year. Adidas gave large severance payments of 7.2 million euros ($8.01 million) and 4.8 million euros to two departing executives last year, Glass Lewis said, after three big severance packages in 2023 and a payout of around 15 million euros to former CEO Kasper Rorsted in 2022. "We remain troubled by the allocation of substantial severance payments following the dissent expressed by shareholders in the past two years," Glass Lewis said in its note to shareholders. ($1 = 0.8990 euros)
