Billionaire Chip Wilson’s bet on tennis rackets and mountaineering gear is paying off big-time.
Wilson, best known for creating athleisure brand Lululemon and becoming a multi-billionaire in the process, is one of the largest shareholders in Amer Sports, a holding company for a clutch of sporting goods brands, some well-known, others little heard of outside their niche.
Amer Sports was a Finnish sporting goods company that Wilson and three Chinese companies – ANTA Sports, investment firm FountainVest and social media giant Tencent – purchased in 2019. The company’s revenue comes mainly from three divisions. It’s largest is outdoor clothing brand Arc’teryx, which originated as a mountaineering clothing producer, followed by ski and shoe brand Salomon, then tennis, football and baseball gear maker Wilson Sporting Goods. Amer Sports also owns another seven niche brands, such as Atomic skis and baseball bat maker Louisville Slugger.
After managing the business for four years, Wilson and his Chinese partners brought Amer Sports public this February. Though initially hyped in late 2023 as an IPO that would value the business at $10 billion by market data provider Bloomberg, Amer’s offering came in weaker than expected: shares priced at $13, below a hoped-for minimum of $16, valuing the business at $6.3 billion.
In fact, the offering was so weak, that Vancouver native Wilson placed an order for $324 million shares at the IPO to help get the deal done. That came on top of his initial 2019 investment, as disclosed in a 2024 regulatory filing, of €500 million – $618 million based on the exchange rate of the time. That puts Wilson’s total investment in Amer at $942 million.
For much of the year, it appeared Wilson made a poor bet. After a brief post-IPO bounce, Amer Sports shares slid to a low of $10.48 in August. The company, which relies heavily on sales in mainland China where Arc’teryx and Salomon are especially popular, suffered from fears of weak consumer demand given the pallid state of the Chinese economy. At Amer’s nadir, Wilson’s 104 million shares in the business were worth $1.09 billion – more than he invested, for sure, but hardly a great return given the U.S. stock market had gained more than 50% from early 2019 to mid-summer.
But after Chinese government began stimulus efforts to prod its economy, demand in Asia grew ravenous. In the latest quarter, Amer said sales in China and the rest of Asia-Pacific grew more than 50%, compared to single-digit gains in North American and Europe. Since mid-August, Amer shares have more than doubled, closing Friday at an all-time high of $24.30.
That makes Wilson’s 21% ownership of Amer worth more than $2.5 billion. That’s a paper profit of nearly $1.6 billion. Wilson, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $5.4 billion, is having a better year with Amer than his original baby, Lululemon. That company’s stock is down 38% in 2024. His 8.4% in Lululemon is now worth $3.4 billion, down more than $2 billion year-to-date.
