Can Under Armour build a $1 billion basketball business on Stephen Curry?
By Trey Williams, MarketWatch
Company's first-quarter revenue growth had a lot to do with the introduction of the Curry One signature basketball shoe
Stephen Curry is the best shooter in the National Basketball Association, bar none, and winner of the league's Most Valuable Player award -- and he could be worth $1 billion to athletic apparel maker Under Armour Inc.
At least, that's what Chief Executive Kevin Plank is hoping.
During a call with investors following the company's first-quarter earnings report in April, Plank said Under Armour's(UA) goal is to build a $1 billion basketball brand centered around Curry.
Curry led the Golden State Warriors through three rounds of the NBA playoffs with spectacular play, and is preparing to take on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday night in The Finals.
"I'm as proud, I think, of the quality of people we have," Plank said, speaking about how Curry carries himself off the court. "But from the Curry One [basketball shoe] to the Curry Two, we've been modifying and chasing that a little bit where we had pretty limited expectations of what we really wanted to do with that product to begin with... It's going to help elevate what was about a $100 million basketball business. And you know our goal is building a billion-dollar-basketball brand."
Under Armour said footwear revenue in the first quarter climbed 41% over a year ago to $161 million. It attributed the strong growth to the introduction of the Curry One signature basketball shoe, along with new offerings of the SpeedForm running shoe.
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