Description
Under Armour is an American sports equipment company that manufactures footwear, sports and casual apparel. Under Armour's global headquarters are located in Baltimore, Maryland, with additional offices located in Amsterdam (European headquarters), Austin, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Houston, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Munich, New York City, Panama City (international headquarters), Paris, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco, São Paulo, Santiago, Seoul, Shanghai (Greater Chinese headquarters), and Toronto.
History
Under Armour received its first big break in 1999 when Warner Brothers contacted Under Armour to outfit two of its feature films, Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday and The Replacements. In Any Given Sunday, Willie Beamen (played by Jamie Foxx) wears an Under Armour jockstrap. Leveraging the release of Any Given Sunday, Plank purchased an ad in ESPN The Magazine. The ad generated close to $750,000 in sales.
The following year, Under Armour became the outfitter of the new XFL football league, gaining even more attention during the league's debut on national television. In 2003, consumer sector focused private equity firm Rosewood Capital invested $12 million into the company. The same year, the company launched its first television commercial, which centered on their motto, "Protect this house." The company IPO'd on the NASDAQ in November 2005, raising $153m of capital. In late 2007, Under Armour opened its first full-line full-price retail location at the Westfield Annapolis mall in Annapolis, Maryland.
It has also opened several specialty stores and factory outlet locations in Canada, China, and 39 states including the opening of its first Brand House in Baltimore in 2013 and second Brand House in Tyson's Corner, Virginia.
In 2009, baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. formed an alliance under which the company would have a significant presence at several venues and events under the auspices of Ripken Baseball, including providing uniforms for the minor league Aberdeen IronBirds and youth teams participating in the Cal Ripken World Series.[
The company is reported to be the major commercial sponsor for the reality TV show Duck Dynasty and has garnered attention for taking a stand supporting show "patriarch" Phil Robertson.
Under Armour provided the suits worn by speedskaters in the 2014 Winter Olympics. The US speedskaters were losing while wearing the new Mach 39 speedsuits, but when they reverted to the previous model suits, the skaters continued to lose. Although there did not appear to be a design flaw in the suit that caused the poor results, the news of the suits caused Under Armour stock to drop 2.38%.
The company, offering a reported US$250,000,000 over 10 years, also bid hard over Nike to sign NBA MVP Kevin Durant to an endorsement deal. However, Nike ultimately re-signed Durant after agreeing to structure a contract, offering US$300,000,000.
On January 21, 2014, it was announced that the University of Notre Dame and Under Armour had come to terms with providing uniforms and athletic equipment for the university. This 10-year deal was the largest of its kind in the history of college athletics and became effective July 1, 2014. As of 2014, Under Armour had an operating profit of more than 30%, accelerating from its 2013 pace. The company's share price soared 62.5% that year.
After its November 2013 acquisition of digital app maker MapMyFitness for US$150,000,000, in February 2015 Under Armour announced it had purchased the calorie and nutrition counting app maker MyFitnessPal for $475m, as well as the fitness app maker Endomondo for US$85,000,000.
On January 6, 2016, Under Armour announced a strategic partnership with IBM to use IBM Watson's cognitive computing technology to provide meaningful data from its IOT kit and UA Record app.
On March 3, 2016, the company became the Official Match Ball Partner of the North American Soccer League, starting with their 2016 season.
On May 26, 2016, Under Armour and UCLA announced their plans for a 15-year, $280 million contract, making this the largest shoe and apparel sponsorship in NCAA history.
In July 2016, Under Armour leased the 53,000-square-foot (4,900 m2) space formerly occupied by FAO Schwarz on New York's Fifth Avenue. FAO Schwarz had been paying $20 million in rent. The store's opening, originally planned for 2019, was pushed back to 2021. Under Armour then announced in March 2021 that it was planning on subleasing approximately half of the overall space.
On December 5, 2016, Under Armour reached a 10-year agreement with Major League Baseball to become the official on-field uniform provider of the MLB, beginning in 2020. Under Armour will replace Majestic, who has been MLB's uniform provider since 2004. However, in May 2018, it was reported that Under Armour would be backing out of the deal with MLB, in order to save the company around $50 million. Nike would instead become the on-field uniform supplier of the league. MLB's deal with Nike became official on January 25, 2019.
Under Armour has a partnership with NBA athlete Stephen Curry, who is considered to be the "face of their footwear line". Originally signed to Nike, Curry joined with Under Armour in the 2013 offseason. As Curry became a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Award winner and one of the most popular athletes in the world, sales of his shoes have become a major factor for the Under Armour brand, with stock prices rising and falling based on the success of the Curry shoe line.
Under Armour has a partnership with PGA golfer Jordan Spieth, who has won three majors so far (the 2015 Masters, the 2015 U.S. Open and the 2017 Open Championship) and has recently launched his own golf shoe, "Spieth One."
On October 10, 2018, Under Armour announced that it has signed Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid to a sneaker endorsement deal.
In October 2019, Kevin Plank announced he would be stepping down by 2020, and COO Patrik Frisk would succeed him as CEO in January 2020. In July 2020, the company received Wells Notices from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Plank the Under Armour's CEO, David Bergman. The notices are the result of its accounting revelations for the years 2015 and 2016 and "pull forward" sales for the same period. The same month, the company reported revenue decline of 41% for the Q2 of 2020 or $707.6 million. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Under Armour had to close its physical stores earlier that same year. Despite the revenue decline, it still fared better than the analytic predictions, which had previously estimated profits of $541 million in sales for Q2.
