Adidas saw substantial growth in fourth quarter of 2025 despite navigating challenges like U.S. tariffs and will launch a $1.2 billion stock buyback program.
In the company’s earnings report released on Thursday, overall sales were up around 4.8 percent to just over $29 billion compared to 2024, while seeing a 1.9 percent boost in the fourth quarter on $7.2 billion in sales. Full-year operating profit was up around $2.4 billion, a 54 percent jump over the previous year.
“The double-digit growth in all markets and all channels is of course very pleasing, but even more important is that this is quality growth,” Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said in the report. “Our markets have been very good at managing that the right product in the right amount has been sold in their markets and that we have managed to keep full-price sell-throughs high and discounts under control.”
Adidas will now turn its attention to a board-approved share buyback that will launch in February.
The company said both executive and supervisory boards will allow up to $1.2 billion in stock to be purchased and will be finance directly through solid cash flow from 2025 revenues. Adidas will then cancel the repurchased shares.
“Our mission is to do everything we can to serve and please the consumer, the athlete and our retail partners. To do that we need to be as close as we can to the markets,” Gulden said. “We want to be a global brand with a local mindset. We are lucky to be in an industry that sells consumer products for many segments. We sell products for sport, comfort, lifestyle and fashion. We are very confident that all these segments will continue to grow all over the world and we are also very confident that we will continue to take market share.”
But even with the promising news from the earning report, shares of Adidas have dipped around 15 percent this year. Still, news of the strong sales and buyback initiative helped pushed Adidas stock 6 percent higher at 152.80 euros on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange early Friday.
