Under Armour CEO Patrik Frisk addressed how the pandemic has affected the company's latest restructuring, which involves more layoffs and cost cutting, saying, "The fact that team sports didn't happen in the fall, the fact that 'back to school' didn't really happen this fall is something everyone dealing with," according to the N.Y. TIMES' Andrew Ross Sorkin. Frisk said Under Armour has "focused its turnaround on bringing new products more quickly to market and repositioning its brand," and it is "seeing positive signs in international markets." Frisk also spoke to which "pandemic consumer trends will endure." He said, "E-commerce and digital evolution probably accelerated three to five years." However, how other changes -- like a "tentative return to cities -- will affect business are less clear." One silver lining: Frisk said people are going to "think even more about their health and wellness level coming out of this." On bringing employees back to the office, Frisk said, "Some employees may need to go back to the office because of the nature of their positions, but others may stay remote for longer -- or permanently." UA is "taking a 'soft opening' approach, allowing workers to stay at home until at least January." Frisk: "We'll be setting ourselves up to manage through whatever 'normal' we need to have to be successful" (DealBook, 9/17).
