MUNICH (Reuters) – Adidas CEO Bjoern Gulden plans to chop as much as 500 jobs on the German sport retailer’s headquarters in Herzogenaurach, a source who took part in a gathering where the figure was announced told Reuters on Thursday.

The world’s second-largest sportswear maker employs around 5,800 people within the Bavarian town.

Germany’s Manager Magazin was first to report on the planned job cuts.

An Adidas spokeswoman decline to substantiate the number but said the corporate structure was “too complex in a continuously changing world”.

In recent times, Gulden has begun to decentralize the corporate and shift responsibility from headquarters to individual markets. He has repeatedly stressed that the corporate has to get back on a growth track before tackling personnel issues.

On Tuesday, Adidas presented better-than-expected preliminary figures for 2024, with an 11% increase in sales and an operating profit of 1.34 billion euros.

The next day, its smaller rival Puma announced a cost-cutting programme after its 2024 net profit missed expectations.

(Reporting by Alexander Huebner, Writing by Leon Kuegeler, Editing by Sabine Wohlrab and Rachel More)