Former adidas Hong Kong MD takes control over Greater China region

Adidas has reportedly appointed Adrian Siu as new Greater China managing director, replacing Jason Thomas who will become senior vice president, global franchise of the company, according to multiple media reports. A Reuters report said Siu has become the company's China chief but it did not offer any reason for the change, and more details will be shared during the full-year earnings call.

According to Siu's LinkedIn, he started the new position in February 2021. Previously, he was senior vice president - commercial. He also worked for Cosmo Lady as CEO before. Based in Shenzhen, he worked for the company for more than two years from 2019 to 2021. Before that Siu worked for adidas Hong Kong for 14 years, where his last position was managing director, adidas Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, Thomas became adidas China managing director in September 2019. Based in Shanghai, he joined the company's China division in 2017 as senior vice president (CFO) for Asia Pacific. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to adidas for more details of the appointment.

Last November, adidas announced that its revenue grew only 3% in Q3 2021, and shared that the business landscape in Greater China was part of the reason for the slow growth. The company said the challenging market environment in Greater China, extensive COVID-related lockdowns in Asia Pacific as well as industry-wide supply chain disruptions reduced revenue growth by around € 600 million in the third quarter. In Greater China, the company said the geopolitical situation, the resurgence of COVID-related restrictions as well as natural disasters weighed on the company’s top-line performance and led to a revenue decline of 15%.

Looking ahead, adidas said it continues to expect its revenue to increase by a rate of up to 20%, but growth is anticipated to come in at the lower end of this range due to a number of reasons, such as the longer-than-expected sourcing disruptions and the challenging market environment in China.

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