Sports company PUMA has appointed PUMA’s Global Director Retail and e-Commerce Karthik Balagopalan (42) as the new Managing Directorof PUMA India, one of the company’s fastest growing markets. He was until recently helming the D2C initiatives.
Karthik joined PUMA in 2006 managing Retail operations and later managed business development, project management until leading global e-commerce since April 2019. He will report into PUMA CEO Arne Freundt and will be based in Bangalore, India. Prior to PUMA, Karthik had worked with Reebok and Godfrey Phillips.
Karthik holds an MBA from MDI, Gurgaon and a Certification from EDHEC Business School, Roubaix.
Arne Freundt, CEO, PUMA, said “India is a vibrant market, where PUMA has been the No. 1 brand for many years. With the appointment of Karthik, we will write the next chapter of this very successful story. I would like to thank Abhishek for his energy and commitment over the past 17 years and wish him all the best for his future as an entrepreneur.”
Karthik will start in his new role on August 1, 2023.
For the full year 2022, PUMA revenues for India stood at Rs. 2,980 Cr (USD 300 mn) while PUMA’s global revenue for 2022 was Euro 8.47 Bn (USD 9.26 Bn). Though the India business is relatively small compared to China, US and Europe markets, PUMA’s revenues are higher than that of Nike, Reebok and Adidas put together.
Abhishek Ganguly, CEO presently at PUMA is expected to take up his new role as an Entreprenuer. During his period, Abhishek has built the India operations for PUMA ground up. He joined the company in 2005 and has overseen several initiatives for the company, making the brand effervescent, adorable and a formidable competition.
We wish good luck to both the leaders in their respective new assignments.
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