Just two months after a leadership change, Arc'teryx has stirred up major controversy.

On September 19, Arc'teryx collaborated with artist Cai Guoqiang to set off artistic fireworks in the Himalayas, an artistic display named "Rising Dragon." Although the organizers claimed the activity was properly registered and compliant, with biodegradable colored powder used in the fireworks and emissions meeting environmental standards, it still sparked enormous controversy. Subsequently, both Cai Guoqiang and the Arc'teryx team issued public apologies.

The controversy centers on two aspects: first, the potential environmental damage to the fragile ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau region from setting off fireworks; second, Arc'teryx, as a professional outdoor brand, planned a marketing stunt that blatantly disregarded environmental impact at a time when other outdoor brands increasingly emphasize environmental consciousness, with some like Patagonia even carrying "radical environmentalism" labels.

The shockwaves from Arc'teryx's "mountain bombing" incident spread, triggering consumer questioning of ANTA SPORTS, the group behind Arc'teryx.

On September 22, ANTA SPORTS stock price fell 2.22%, with market capitalization shrinking by HK$6.6 billion. Amer Sports, Arc'teryx's parent company listed on the US stock market, saw its stock price plummet 5.82%, with market value evaporating by $1.207 billion.

Two months before this "mountain bombing incident," Amer Sports China had just changed leadership, with Ma Lei, former general manager of Zhongqiao Sports (formerly Jordan Sports), taking over as president of Amer China. The former president, Yao Jian, was reassigned as global brand president of Jack Wolfskin, which ANTA acquired in May this year.

Behind Arc'teryx's environmental controversy, the massive ANTA empire, which has been frequently acquiring companies in recent years, is quietly facing potential problems after becoming a giant.

Ding Shizhong and the Hidden Hundred-Billion ANTA Empire

It took Ding Shizhong and ANTA 34 years to develop a small shoe workshop into the world's third-largest sports brand empire.

In 1991, Ding Shizhong and his father Ding Hemu founded ANTA Footwear Co., Ltd. At that time, ANTA was just one of many small shoe workshops in Jinjiang. After more than a decade of rapid development, ANTA successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 2007, with a market capitalization of HK$18 billion on its first trading day. That same year, ANTA SPORTS achieved revenue of 3.182 billion yuan and net profit of 538 million yuan.

The successful listing gave ANTA confidence for its subsequent growth. From its 2007 listing to 2025, over these ten-plus years, ANTA has grown into an industrial giant with a market value of hundreds of billions, once approaching HK$500 billion at its peak. Even after market volatility and corrections, ANTA SPORTS maintains a total market value of over HK$260 billion.

What has grown is not only ANTA's market capitalization but also the group's "appetite."

Frequent mall visitors can see sports and outdoor brands like FILA, JACK WOLFSKIN, Salomon, and Wilson. While you may be marveling at how attractive and comfortable these brand products are, the reality is that ANTA has a presence behind all of them.

Today, ANTA owns so many sports and outdoor brands that you can't count them on two hands. The group not only owns its main ANTA brand but also acquired brands like FILA, Descente, Kolon Sport, MAIA ACTIVE, JACK WOLFSKIN, and holds a 42.52% stake in Amer Sports, which owns Arc'teryx, Salomon, Wilson, Peak Performance, and Atomic.

This vast brand portfolio has strengthened both ANTA's "appetite" and its facade—performance.

In the 2024 annual report, ANTA SPORTS achieved revenue of 70.826 billion yuan and net profit of 15.596 billion yuan. Among these, the main ANTA brand generated revenue of 33.5 billion yuan, FILA brand revenue was 26.6 billion yuan, and other brands combined for 10.7 billion yuan in revenue.

In 2024, Amer Sports achieved revenue of $5.183 billion, approximately 37.752 billion yuan at exchange rates of the time, with attributable net profit of $72.6 million. According to Amer executives, Arc'teryx alone generated over $2 billion in revenue.

Based on 2024 figures, the greater ANTA Group (ANTA SPORTS and Amer Sports) achieved revenue exceeding 100 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 108.58 billion yuan, becoming the third sports goods group to break the 100 billion scale after Nike and Adidas.

From a 2025 revenue scale perspective, ANTA SPORTS' revenue exceeded the combined total of Li-Ning and XTEP, approaching Nike and Adidas' combined revenue in Greater China, making it the absolute leader in China's sports goods sector.

The development of ANTA SPORTS and Amer Sports has rapidly increased the wealth of the Ding Shizhong family. Wind platform data shows that Ding Shizhong and his brother Ding Shijia hold 52.67% of ANTA SPORTS through a concerted action agreement and hold 42.52% of Amer Sports through ANTA SPORTS.

According to the "2025 Hurun Global Rich List" released by Hurun Research Institute, Ding Shizhong ranks 640th with 40 billion yuan in wealth, while his brother Ding Shijia ranks 675th with 39 billion yuan in wealth.

The Hundred-Billion ANTA Empire Built Through "Buy, Buy, Buy"

ANTA's rapid development cannot be discussed without mentioning its core strategy: acquisitions.

As mentioned earlier, ANTA was founded in 1991 and initially operated mainly its main brand, even running some Adidas, Reebok, and Kappa retail stores. After nearly 10 years of development, the ANTA brand had become a leading domestic sports brand. At this point, Ding Shizhong set his sights on higher-end markets, choosing acquisitions of foreign brands as his method.

In 2009, ANTA acquired the trademark operating rights for Italian sports brand FILA in Greater China from Belle International, beginning its multi-brand strategy. With FILA's assistance, ANTA surpassed Li-Ning to become the leading domestic sports brand and entered a period of high-speed growth.

In 2016-2017, ANTA SPORTS acquired exclusive operating rights for Japanese ski sports brand Descente and Korean outdoor brand Kolon Sport in the Chinese market.

In 2019, a consortium led by ANTA SPORTS spent 4.6 billion euros (approximately 36 billion yuan) to acquire Amer Sports, gaining brands like Arc'teryx and Salomon. This was ANTA's largest acquisition since its founding, with Ding Shizhong calling it "the most significant decision I've made from entrepreneurship to today."

This acquisition was led by ANTA SPORTS with a 57.95% contribution. Anamered Investments, held by Lululemon's founder, contributed 20.65%, Fountainvest Partners contributed 15.77%, and Tencent contributed 5.83%. After Amer Sports' re-listing, these four shareholders still maintain stakes above 5%. According to Amer Sports' financial reports, ANTA holds 232 million shares, representing 42.50% and making it the largest shareholder.

In October 2023, ANTA SPORTS acquired domestic women's athletic wear brand MAIA ACTIVE, entering the women's yoga apparel market.

In May 2025, ANTA SPORTS completed the acquisition of German professional outdoor brand JACK WOLFSKIN for $290 million, positioning it in the mass to mid-range outdoor market.

On August 27, 2025, ANTA SPORTS announced a strategic partnership with Korean fashion group MUSINSA, forming a joint venture with ANTA holding 40% and MUSINSA holding 60%, to promote "MUSINSA STANDARD" and "Musinsa Store" development in China. Previously, in January this year, ANTA acquired approximately 1.7% of MUSINSA for about 264 million yuan.

MUSINSA STANDARD is a Korean fashion brand that initially focused on trendy footwear before expanding to apparel categories. Besides its own brands, the MUSINSA platform hosts about 8,000 Korean fashion brands. MUSINSA has expanded beyond online e-commerce to offline retail, with "MUSINSA STANDARD" and "Musinsa Store" representing different types of offline stores.

From these investment and acquisition activities, ANTA has transformed from a single sports brand company into an industry giant spanning hardcore outdoor, sports, fashion, streetwear, and women's athletic wear sectors, giving it stronger capabilities to weather market cycles.

Ding Shizhong has stated that the multi-brand strategy enables better response to market cycles, seizing opportunities in different market segments to further consolidate overall competitiveness. In the 2025 interim report, Ding Shizhong reiterated his belief that a differentiated, highly complementary multi-brand portfolio is the core engine of the group's sustained growth, and will firmly strengthen existing brands, deeply explore growth potential, and continue pursuing strategic acquisitions.

ANTA-Style Acquisition Side Effects

Extensive acquisitions have filled ANTA's "appetite" and provided sustained growth momentum. Previously, FILA helped ANTA SPORTS maintain over 20% growth for consecutive years, and now Descente, Kolon Sport, and Amer's Arc'teryx and Salomon are beginning to contribute major incremental growth.

In the first half of this year, other brands under ANTA SPORTS including Kolon Sport, Descente, and Jack Wolfskin generated revenue of 7.4 billion yuan, with growth rates as high as 61.1%. Amer Sports achieved revenue of $2.709 billion, up 23.46% year-over-year, with Salomon-led mountain outdoor apparel and equipment business growing 29%.

However, while rapidly scaling up, frequent acquisitions have created business integration difficulties and management culture differences, planting potential risk factors for ANTA.

On one hand, after acquiring brands, ANTA tends to use marketing tactics to quickly boost brand awareness and drive revenue growth. For example, after Arc'teryx went viral through Off-White founder's appearance at Paris Fashion Week wearing Arc'teryx jackets, shower challenges, and "middle-class three-piece set" marketing, many of ANTA's acquired brands began focusing more on marketing, with Kolon Sport breaking through with labels like "institutional dress code" and "Northeast China's favorite brand."

However, this marketing focus makes brands lean toward "attention-grabbing" tactics for short-term traffic effects, lacking commitment to long-term values. While other outdoor brands embrace environmental labels, Arc'teryx's team "mountain bombing" incident and disregard for environmental concerns may be evidence of this trend.

On the other hand, acquired teams still face certain corporate culture differences. Taking Arc'teryx as an example, when the brand went viral due to Off-White founder's Paris Fashion Week appearance and "shower challenge," Arc'teryx's Canadian team even "avoided" this traffic windfall because they felt it wouldn't be cool if Arc'teryx became a streetwear brand, while the Chinese team led by Arc'teryx Greater China General Manager Xu Yang was more willing to embrace this traffic wave.

Regarding the Cai Guoqiang fireworks show, Arc'teryx's official English account apology stated: "We are working directly with the local artist involved and our China team to address this matter and will change our ways of working to ensure such incidents do not happen again."

Additionally, ANTA, as a specialized family brand, has both strong family enterprise background and modern professional management systems, potentially creating friction from management culture differences. For example, Ding Shizhong's son Ding Shaoxiang currently serves as Descente's chairman, while Ding Shizhong's brother Ding Shijia's son Ding Sirong is chairman and CEO of Kolon Sport, while brands like FILA, Jack Wolfskin, and Arc'teryx are managed by professional managers.

More importantly, as revenue scale grows larger, ANTA's performance growth rate is beginning to slow. ANTA SPORTS' revenue growth rates were over 40% in 2018-2019, fluctuated dramatically during 2020-2022, and were 16.23% and 13.58% respectively in 2023-2024, showing clear deceleration. Amer Sports' revenue growth rates were 23.10% and 17.79% in 2023-2024, also showing a slowing trend.

However, based on this year's interim financial reports, both ANTA SPORTS and Amer Sports showed revenue growth acceleration, with full-year performance still to be verified.

As China's most outstanding sports brand, ANTA has achieved tremendous success through its multi-brand strategy. However, with frequent acquisitions and growing company scale, problems associated with ANTA's acquisition integration are gradually emerging. Whether this domestic sports brand giant can resolve these issues to achieve further breakthroughs remains to be seen.