Things were pretty equal between the two sportswear giants in the early ’00s. adidas started its hugely popular Y-3 label with Yohji Yamamoto (who originally wanted to work with Nike, FYI) and signed David Beckham up for a lifetime $160m deal, while Nike made some serious purchases – snapping up Hurley, Converse and Starter for an estimated total of $450m.
Behind the scenes, current adidas CEO Herbert Hainer took over in 2001, Michael Jordan finally hung up his sneakers in 2003 and Nike co-founder Phil Knight stepped down from his position as CEO a year later.