Under Armour's Attack on Nike | Dropping the Ball
3/25/202645 min
It’s 2014 and Under Armour is getting increasingly aggressive as it takes on Nike, buying fitness apps and signing record-breaking endorsement deals. But they face a major setback when one of their biggest retail partners goes bankrupt. To recoup the lost revenue, Under Armour makes a risky deal. And as the company scrambles to keep up with the rise of ecommerce and athleisure, they face a daunting question: are they losing sight of what made them great?
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First 90 secondsDavid Brown· Host0:00
Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Business Wars ad free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. [sighs] It's late twenty fourteen in Baltimore, Maryland. Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank rubs his hands over his face and leans back in his chair. He's been in his office for hours with two of his top advisors debating a decision that could redefine the company's future, and he's exhausted. He stands up and walks over to a whiteboard covered with notes, then picks up an eraser and wipes it clean. "I just keep coming back to the same question. Does this move serve our core business?" Plank uncaps a marker and draws a line to form two columns on the board. At the top of one column, he writes, "Buy." On the other, "Don't buy." "Okay, let's go over it all again, starting with the pros. So why should we buy these apps?" Under Armour is considering acquiring two different fitness tracking apps, MyFitnessPal, which tracks users' calorie intake and exercise, and Endomondo, which offers virtual fitness training. The move would be a continuation of Under Armour's existing push into fitness tracking, an area where they're already playing