Adidas investigates bribery allegations amounting to $260 million annually

Adidas has begun investigating allegations of widespread bribery in China, after the world’s second-largest sportswear company received a complaint accusing senior employees at the company of embezzling millions of euros, according to what people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.

The report indicated that the anonymous complaint may have been written by Adidas employees in China, and was briefly shared on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu this month.

The complaint names several of the company’s Chinese employees, including a senior manager involved in Adidas’ marketing budget in China, which the document indicated amounts to more than $260 million annually.

For its part, Adidas confirmed that it had received a letter alerting it to a possible complaint about violations in China. It stressed that it is committed to complying with legal and internal regulations as well as ethical standards in all the markets in which it operates, noting that it is investigating the matter extensively with an external legal advisor.