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Puma Sports And Shoe Company
Puma, with the official company name Puma AG, is a shoe and sports apparel company that is mainly based in Herzogenaurach, Germany. It is one of the world's largest shoe manufacturers; the others being Nike, Adidas, and Reebok. It claimed itself as the first truly virtual sports company.
Puma was created by Rudolf Dassler, a German entrepreneur and brother of Adolf Dassler (the founder of Adidas Shoe Corporation), in 1924 at his hometown in Herzogenaurach. In 1948, it transformed its company name to PUMA Schuhfabrik Rudolf Dassler. Puma then developed in 1986 as a major stock corporation. It opened itself as a stock exchange member both in Munich, Switzerland and Frankfurt, Germany (XETRA). Its major shareholders and investors are mainly from the United States' and Europe. According to its December 31, 2004 annual report, Puma has about 16,666,714 shares outstanding. Currently, Jochen Zeitz is the company's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
At present, Puma provides work for at least 4000 employees. It also has commercial distribution of its products in 80 countries. In 2003, Puma's revenue was more than 1.2 billion Euros. In relation to that, the company's total income reached an all time high in 2004 wth 1.5 billion Euros. Its manufacturing services are contracted out to over 30 countries around the world.
Puma's market dominance is particularly concentrated in Central Europe. In fact, it has been a domestic name for almost European teenagers. Most of Puma's products are footwear which represents 66% in consolidated sales, apparel 27%, and accessories 7%.
Some of Puma's celebrity endorsers include world boxing champion Oscar de la Hoya, French soccer superstar Nicolas Anelka, tennis sensation Serena Williams, NBA's 1999 Rookie of the Year Vince Carter, German Wimbledon Winner Boris Becker, and IAAF World Champions Colin Jackson, Wilson Kipketer, Christopher Kosgei, Tsiamita Paraskevi, and Noah Ngeny.
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