Decathlon is negotiating the acquisition of a majority stake in Tradeinn

Decathlon is negotiating the acquisition of a majority stake in Tradeinn, the Spanish e-commerce giant Tradeinn, specializing in sports equipment, to strengthen its online sales strategy, according to Expansión and confirmed by Ecommerce News. In this way, Decathlon is approaching another pure national player in sports equipment. This operation would value the company at close to 1 billion euros.

Tradeinn, which has about twenty platforms specialized in different verticals, is controlled by the companies Didavid Management -owned by founder David Martín, and shareholders such as Dídac Lee-, which holds 70% of the capital, and Suma Capital, which holds the remaining 30% of the shares.

“Decathlon is one more interested party in the purchase of Suma Capital's shares, a process that began several months ago,” says David Martín, CEO and founder of Tradeinn. “For us, it is a source of pride that the leader of our sector wants to enter the company because it would bring much more than a financial partner,” adds the company's founder.

Similarly, David Martin confirms his intentions to remain in Tradeinn, maintaining a majority stake to continue managing the business: “I want to continue leading the company, I want to continue working to keep us as the number one.”

The deal, which also involves international funds interested in a minority stake, could close this July or in the first weeks of August.

Decathlon recently announced the creation of Decathlon Pulse, a wholly owned but independent subsidiary that will increase its investment in brands, retailers, and innovative businesses. Specifically, Decathlon Pulse has begun operating with 21 investments in its portfolio, in which the French group participates as a majority or minority shareholder.

The company closed fiscal 2023 with a 4.4% year-on-year revenue increase, at constant exchange rates. Adjusted for foreign exchange rates and the impact of the closure of its business in Russia, revenues grew by 1.15% to 16.9 billion dollars (15.618 billion euros). 

Decathlon is over a billion 

The French group posted a net income of just over 1 billion dollars (925 million euros), Forbes reported. During 2023, Decathlon sold a total of 1.19 billion items worldwide. Online sales accounted for 17.4% of the group's turnover in 2023, up 0.7% on the previous year.

On its side, Tradeinn expects to close 2024 with a turnover of 600 million euros, as its CEO David Martin recently advanced to CMD Sports. “We are very happy with how we are doing this 2024,” declared David Martín, specifying that during the first four months of the year, “we have grown by 21% compared to the same period last year.”

In this context, the CEO highlighted the sales dynamism registered by its Trekkinn, Bikeinn, Runnerinn and Snowinn verticals as the main drivers of sales in the first four months of the year, “something that already happened in the first four months of 2023”.