 LOG IN
 Welcome to Puma Shoes Blogs :
PUMA AG Rudolf Dassler Sport (PUMA) (FWB: PUMG) is a large German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle footwear and other sportswear.
The company is known for its association football shoes and has sponsored footballers, including Pelé, Eusébio, Johan Cruijff, Enzo Francescoli, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthäus, Kenny Dalglish, Didier Deschamps and Gianluigi Buffon. PUMA is also the sponsor of the Jamaica track athlete Usain Bolt who won three gold medals by breaking the men’s 100m, 200m and 4×100m world records in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the United States, the company is probably best-known for the suede basketball shoe it introduced in 1968, which eventually bore the name of New York Knicks basketball star Walt “Clyde” Frazier, and for its endorsement partnership with Joe Namath.
The company also offers lines shoes and sports clothing, designed by Lamine Kouyate, Amy Garbers, and others. Since 1996 PUMA has intensified its activities in the United States. PUMA owns 25 percent of American brand sports clothing maker Logo Athletic, which is licensed by American professional basketball and Association football leagues. Since 2007 PUMA AG has been part of the PPR French luxury group.
PUMA AG has approximately 9,204 employees and distributes its products in more than 80 countries. For the fiscal year 2003, the company had a revenue of €1.274 billion. PUMA were the commercial sponsors for the 2002 anime series Hungry Heart: Wild Striker, with the jerseys and clothing sporting the PUMA brand.
The company has been conducted by CEO and Chairman Jochen Zeitz since 1993. His contract has been extended ahead of schedule for four more years until 2012 in October 2007.
Japanese fashion guru Mihara Yasuhiro teamed up with PUMA to create a high-end and high-concept line of sneakers.
PUMA is the main producer of enthusiast driving shoes and race suits. They are the prime producer in both Formula One and NASCAR especially.
They had successfully won the rights of sponsoring the 2006 FIFA World Cup champions, the Italian national football team, with them making and sponsoring the clothing worn by the team. Their partnership with Ferrari and BMW to make PUMA-Ferrari and PUMA-BMW shoes has also contributed to this success. On 15 March 2007, PUMA launched its first new 2007/2008 line of uniforms for a club, and Brazilian football club Grêmio will be the first to use the laser sewn technology, similar to the one worn by Italy at the 2006 World Cup. Grêmio and other Brazilian clubs will be the first to use the technology because their season starts six months earlier than European clubs. PUMA also makes baseball cleats, and Johnny Damon, the outfielder for the New York Yankees, is their spokesperson. He has his own cleat called the “DFR Metals”.
In 2008, PUMA celebrated the 40th anniversary of the KING with a special anniversary edition., the KING XL (XL is 40 in Roman Numerals), a tribute to Portuguese footballer Eusébio, who shot 42 goals with the legendary KING in 1968, winning the Golden Boot Award as Europe’s leading scorer. The KING also was the favourite shoe of players like Pelé, Mario Kempes, Rudi Völler, Lothar Matthäus, Massimo Oddo and Diego Maradona. Puma have continued to release new versions of the King range, and released a version in 2009 to celebrate the history of Italian soccer, and in particular double World Cup winning coach Vittorio Pozzo, the Puma King XL Italia.
In February 2007, PUMA reported that its profits had fallen by 26% to €32.8 million ($43 million; £22 million) during the final three months of 2006. Most of the profit decline was due to higher costs linked to its expansion, and sales actually rose by more than a third to €480.6 million.
In early April 2007, PUMA’s shares rose €29.25 per share, or 10.2% higher, at €315.24 per share. On 10 April 2007, French retailer and owner of Gucci brand Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) announced that it had bought a 27% stake in PUMA, clearing the way for a full takeover. The deal values PUMA at €5.3 billion. PPR said that it would launch a “friendly” takeover for PUMA, worth €330 a share, once the acquisition of the smaller stake was completed. The board of PUMA welcomed the move, saying it was fair and in the firm’s best interests. On 17 July 2007 PPR have 62.1 % of PUMA stocks.
While PPR owns the majority of PUMA’s stocks, PUMA remains an individual company and is not a subsidiary of the PPR group.
on March 10, 2010 Puma Announced it will acquire 100 percent of Cobra Golf, based in Carlsbad, California, from Fortune Brands Inc., but did not provide any financial details. The deal which faces regulatory approval is expected to close in the second quarter.
|
Tags: Puma AG, puma shoes, The legendary KING