(Frankfurt) German sports equipment manufacturer Adidas said on Monday that it was conducting a “thorough investigation” into a vast case of alleged corruption in China valued at several million euros involving local employees of the group.
The Herzogenaurach group, barely recovered from the turbulence after its brutal separation from the American rapper Ye for his anti-Semitic remarks, is now seeing a compromising affair break out in China, where its sales took off again last year after the dip linked to the pandemic of COVID-19.
As of June 7, Adidas says it received “an anonymous letter indicating potential compliance violations in China,” a spokeswoman said.
Adidas has since “thoroughly investigated this matter in conjunction with external legal counsel,” without providing further details.
In general, the three-stripe brand takes “allegations of possible compliance violations very seriously” and aims to be irreproachable “in all markets in which we operate,” according to its spokesperson.
On the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Adidas lost more than 1.5% on Monday morning, with Dax regaining color (0.40%).
The said letter is attributed to “employees of Adidas (in) China” accusing by name several Chinese employees, including an executive from the company’s marketing budget department, of having received significant bribes, according to the daily British Financial Times which first revealed the affair.
An Adidas China manager is notably accused of having received “millions in cash from suppliers, as well as property, including real estate. »
Adidas, which made its debut in China in 1997, now has 14 factories there and achieved 15% of its global sales there in 2023, or 3.2 billion euros, an increase of 8% year-on-year.