The story of Under Armour seems to be the classic entrepreneur fable – football guy lives in his grandma’s basement, selling shirts, and makes it big with an ESPN the Magazine advert that delivered $750,000 in sales within a year. Ten years later, the company reaches $1 billion in revenue, and has a top spot in the industry.
Under Armour has evolved over the years, from a specialized shirt company that focused on a performance wear into a global brand that produces everything from hats to socks to backpacks. Partnerships with top athletes, overseas growth, and a reach into “digital fitness” provides the company the foundation to be successful – but lately, they have been floundering.
Everything from delivering lackluster forecasts in a rather mediocre five year plan to employees expensing strip clubs to entertain athletes, to key management departures have caused the company to lose billions in value over the past two days. Looking at either the Class A stock (UA) or the Class C stock (UAA), the story is relatively the same. UA is down 29.59% and UAA down 35.06% over a two-year time frame, with a over one-third of that drop happening in the last day.
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