Billionaire Chip Wilson Lululemon Founder Bets Big With Amer Sports Company

Forbes

Five years ago, billionaire Chip Wilson bet big on Amer Sports, the parent company of such brands as Arc’teryx, Salomon and Wilson. His stake has since ballooned in value–and is on the verge of eclipsing the worth of his Lululemon shares.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2025/01/25/lululemons-cancelled-founder-scores-billions-with-finnish-athleisure-venture/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, Lululemon's cancelled founder scores billions with Finnish athleisure venture.

00:09Back in 1998, Chip Wilson predicted that yoga would be one of the next big trends in retail.

00:15He launched Lululemon that year in his home city of Vancouver, Canada.

00:19That decision catalyzed the so-called athleisure movement, making it cool and stylish to wear

00:25athletic clothing every day.

00:28In late 2023, the now 68-year-old Wilson, whose estimated net worth is over $7.5 billion,

00:36had another prediction.

00:38He told Forbes, quote,

00:39I feel like I'm right in the middle of the biggest change in the way people have dressed

00:43in the history of the world.

00:46Wilson was not talking about Lululemon, the company he founded but where he left his role

00:50as chair of the board in 2013 amid controversy following his comments about women's bodies.

00:56He was referring to the success of his newer investment, Helsinki, Finland-based sportswear

01:02outfit Amor Sports, the parent company of outdoors brands like Arcteryx, outerwear,

01:08Wilson tennis rackets, Salomon running shoes and ski gear, and Atomic, ski gear.

01:14In 2019, right around the time Lululemon revoked his right to nominate a director to its board,

01:20the entrepreneur spent around $1.1 billion of cash from selling Lululemon shares to buy

01:26a nearly 21% stake in Amor Sports.

01:29He was part of an investor group led by Anta, the owner of Fila and the largest athletic

01:34company in China, that spent a combined $5.2 billion to take over the Finnish conglomerate.

01:41His stake in the company is now worth about $3.2 billion, double its value when it went

01:47public in February 2024.

01:50Wilson bought an additional $324 million worth of shares at the IPO.

01:55His stake in the company is just $200 million less than his remaining 7% stake in Lululemon,

02:00whose stock has dropped about 16% over the past year amid rising competition from the

02:05likes of Alo Yoga and Vori.

02:08Despite having no active role in running the company, Wilson is still Lululemon's largest

02:13individual shareholder, and occasionally a thorn in its side.

02:18Wilson has also made a decent return so far investing in Anta directly.

02:22He bought nearly 16 million shares of the Chinese conglomerate back in 2019 for $100

02:27million.

02:28They are now worth $160 million.

02:32In an interview in late 2023, Wilson told Forbes his key focus was on Amor, whose sales

02:37are predicted to surpass $5.1 billion in 2024, up from $4.4 billion in 2023 and $2.5 billion

02:46in 2021.

02:48Wilson said, quote,

02:49It's just where my brain is probably 90% of the time.

02:54Wilson serves on the company's board of directors with Anta co-founder Ding Shijiang, medical

02:59scrub maker Figgs co-founder Trina Speer, and former CEO of Hugo Boss Bruno Souser.

03:06The Lululemon billionaire also said he was attempting to transform Amor brands from,

03:10quote,

03:11very male, very engineering, very wholesale focused, to be more appealing to the everyday

03:16customer.

03:18Amor's biggest markets in 2023, the last year the data was available, were in the Americas,

03:23which made up about 40% of its revenue, and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, which

03:29comprised a combined 33%.

03:32But that is changing as its business in China and Asia-Pacific grows rapidly, up 54% and

03:3842% during the first nine months of 2024, according to the latest financial results,

03:43eclipsing the tepid pace of growth in the other key markets by a factor of sevenfold

03:48and tenfold, respectively.

03:51According to Morningstar analyst Ivan Su, Amor's recent success is tied directly to

03:56the booming popularity of outdoor wear in China.

04:00Su explains, quote,

04:01In the U.S. and Europe, outdoor apparel has always been there.

04:05But in China, outdoor is something that only started to become mainstream during COVID-19.

04:12For full coverage, check out Jemima McAvoy's piece on Forbes.com.

04:18This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:20Thanks for tuning in.

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