Athletic apparel company Adidas has launched an investigation into allegations of "compliance violations" in China after receiving an anonymous letter earlier this month accusing local executives of embezzling "millions of euros," according to news reports.
Adidas confirmed it had received an anonymous June 7 letter indicating potential "compliance violations" in China, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported.
The shoe and sportwear maker said it was investigating the matter together with external legal counsel, the news outlets reported.
Chinese state media outlet Jiemian last week reported that an anonymous group of whistleblowers, who called themselves employees of Adidas China, had sent the letter containing the allegations to the company's German headquarters.
The letter, which was published by Jiemian but also widely circulated on social media, accused senior executives and several staff members of embezzlement and receiving bribes from suppliers in the form of cash and real estate, and of taking kickbacks from celebrities and advertising agencies.
One senior executive was also accused of workplace bullying, such as swearing at subordinates, and of nepotism.
The whistleblowers said that if Adidas did not address the issues brought up in the letter, the matter would be disclosed to external media and "legal departments."
Greater China, which encompasses mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, makes up 15% of Adidas' sales, according to its 2023 annual report.
The German brand is the second-largest sportswear brand in China, behind Nike.
Adidas' Greater China sales grew 8% in 2023, after declines between 2019 and 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and a backlash in China against Western brands which refuse to use Xinjiang cotton. Activists say cotton produced in Xinjiang often involves forced labor.
Adidas regularly engages popular Chinese celebrities to be its brand ambassadors, including singer and actor Jackson Yee, popular Chinese rapper Gali and Dilraba, a popular Chinese singer of Uyghur descent.
Google is blasted by UK watchdog for what it calls anti-competitive behavior through digital ads
Google was slammed Friday by U.K. regulators who say it's taking advantage of its dominance in digital advertising to thwart competition in Britain, ratcheting up pressure that the tech giant is facing on both sides of the Atlantic over its "ad tech" business practices.
Britain's Competition and Markets Authority said that the U.S. company gives preference to its own services to the detriment of online publishers and advertisers in Britain's 1.8 billion pound ($2.4 billion) digital ad market. The watchdog leveled its accusations after an investigation, and the findings could potentially lead to a fine worth billions of dollars or an order to change its behavior.
Google is a major player throughout the digital ad ecosystem, providing servers for publishers to manage ad space on their websites and apps, tools for advertisers and media agencies to buy display ads, and an exchange where both sides come together to buy and sell ads in real time at auctions.
"We've provisionally found that Google is using its market power to hinder competition when it comes to the ads people see on websites," the watchdog's interim executive director of enforcement, Juliette Enser, said in a press release.
The watchdog's charges, known as a statement of objections, arrive two years after it opened its investigation. Google's digital ad business is also the focus of a European Union antitrust investigation and a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit that's set to go to trial this month.
The CMA said that Google's "anti-competitive" conduct is ongoing, but the company disputed the allegations Friday.
"Google remains committed to creating value for our publisher and advertiser partners in this highly competitive sector," the company said in a prepared... Read More