VANCOUVER — Chalk it up to boredom. Not content with his ongoing feud with Lululemon (the company he started, and was essentially banished from in 2015 — though he still remains their largest shareholder), Wilson has now set his sights on something new: Under Armour.
Consider these two instances over the last several weeks…
Round one: The now infamous bus stop ad in Vancouver, which read, in bold letters: “LULULEMON, BUY UNDER ARMOUR NOW!”
Round two: He called out Under Armour’s poor performance just last week in a segment on CNBC:
“What’s interesting about the Under Armour thing is that it’s lost $9 billion in the last 6 – 9 months. That’s a lot of money. What I think happens is that people think Under Armour is this unbelievable company and Lululemon’s down here somewhere. But if you look at it, Lululemon’s way more profitable, and has a much better business model. . . . I wouldn’t want to be working at Under Armour right now.”
So far, it’s been a rough 2017 for Kevin Plank. Not only is he still dealing with the fallout from his support of the president, he’s also got a potential new headache in the pugnacious Chip Wilson. Plank is unlikely to be cowered by Wilson’s comments, and would surely have something to say about it if given the chance. But given the current bad press he’s gotten, the last thing he needs right now is someone like Wilson drawing attention to Under Armour’s financial struggles.
