Adidas to Scale Back its Golf Business

Adidas announced this week that it will sell parts of its golf division for $425 million. Reports say the divestiture for the sports apparel company include TaylorMade, Adams Golf and Ashworth Brands, which will be offloaded to buyout firm KPS Capital Partners. The deal is expected to close in fall of 2017. "We welcome all Adidas Golf employees who will be integrated into our Adidas Heartbeat Sports Business Unit," Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said in a statement to the press. "Our focus is clearly on our core competencies in footwear and apparel and on our two major brands, Adidas and Reebok."

Total Retail's Take: Many specialty golf retailers have struggled recently and it seems Adidas is no exception. As Adidas moves forward, its challenges will to be navigate how much goes into specialty sportswear vs. athlesuire, the fastest-growing retail category over the last three years, as well as competing against Dick's Sporting Goods. Dick's Sporting Goods acquired assets from Sports Authority (which has since gone out of business) and Golfsmith, and is one of the top specialty sports retailers in the space.