Salary is questioned, Adidas CEO responds: My salary is much less than Bayern substitutes

May 18th Adidas held a shareholders' meeting in Felt on Thursday. CEO Bjorn Gulden said that his salary was much less than Bayern's substitute.

59-year-old Goulden's salary became the focus of the conference. The Norwegian has been in charge of the company since early 2023 and received a €7.38 million in 2024. Faced with shareholder doubts, Goulden said bluntly: "My income is much lower than those players on Bayern's bench!"

This remark is quite subtle. After all, Adidas holds 8.33% of Bayern AG, and the club has always been disgusted with the discussion of player salary. But what Goulden said is true. Top stars such as Kane and Musiara have an annual salary of about 25 million euros, while Kimmich, Muller, Neuer and others are close to 20 million. In contrast, the annual salary of rotational players such as Stanisic, Dell, and Yohi Ito is indeed only the second-tier level.

The head of Adidas wants to emphasize that top talents earn more in other fields. But comparing football with the ordinary workplace is questionable. Bayern also often has headaches for the high-paying system, and has been criticized for offering sky-high contracts to too many mediocre players. Therefore, the club is eager to send away high-paid players such as Koeman and Gnabry and cut their salary standards across the board.

The Photo Bird finally stated that perhaps football stars and executives of famous companies should compare their income with ordinary fans, so that they will find that they are making too much.