Adidas-Reebok deal will close Tuesday

We were talking Nike last week, so this is the rivals' turn. The EU approved the merger of Adidas and Reebok last Tuesday, and Reebok's shareholders aproved it Wednesday. A quick close will be good for business:

Reebok said Wednesday the companies now expect to close the deal by Jan. 31, a quick conclusion they hope will end the uncertainty that had hurt sales and orders to retailers. Reebok acknowledged three months ago that uncertainty about integration plans had hurt sales, which declined to $912 million in the third quarter of 2005, from $1 billion in the previous year's quarter.

The new company will be pretty close to Nike on a worldwide basis (about 31% to 28%), but Nike's lead is much bigger in the US. Adidas leads Nike in Europe and Japan.

Here's one marketing professor's view of how they could use the two brands:

The acquisition of Reebok could allow Adidas to divide and conquer the two major market segments for athletic shoes and clothing — style and performance, Dhar said.

Reebok could focus on the style segment while Adidas could focus more on performance shoes and equipment to expand its market share with a broader offering of products, he said.