German shoewear company Puma’s shares rose by slightly more than 16% after a Bloomberg report of a possible private takeover by Chinese company Anta Sports, according to CNBC.
Source: Google Finance
For the larger part of 2025, Puma has been struggling to bring in a profit, citing tariffs and high inventory levels in its Q2 and Q3 earnings as the major reasons for its losses in both quarters of 247 million euros and 62 million euros respectively.
Prior to tariffs, the company was struggling with stubborn inflation, supply-chain issues owing to the pandemic, and severe depreciation of Argentina’s currency, which affected the value of its revenue in Latin America, according to its 2023 financial report.
The ability to source products at a reasonable price from China has been an issue for years, a country that it relies on for the bulk of its manufacturing alongside Vietnam due to low cost of labor.
If the report of the takeover is true, it would mean one of Germany’s most well-known publicly traded firms would be going private. Puma has been a public company since 1986 and is listed on Germany’s main financial bourses.
Its shares have performed poorly this year as well, losing more than 50% in value on a YTD basis.