6 TRICIA GRIFFITH, CEO
of Progressive and 2018’s
Businessperson of the Year,
continued to deliver the
steady growth her share-
holders have become
happily accustomed to.
7 Strong skin care
sales—especially in China—
helped drive Estée Lauder
stock up 44% year to date
under the leadership of
CEO FABRIZIO FREDA.
8 Moving beyond cards
(into health care, supply
chain, and fintech) has
paid off for Mastercard
CEO AJAY BANGA.
9 While Costco’s U.S.
business continued its re-
markably steady growth un-
der CEO W. CRAIG JELINEK,
the chain’s first outpost in
China made headlines for
attracting crazy crowds.
10 2019 saw JPMorgan
Chase’s stock hit an all-
time high, while CEO JAMIE
DIMON was lauded for his
Business Roundtable ef-
forts to make companies
more accountable to all
stakeholders.
11 DANIEL SCHULMAN,
CEO of PayPal, has seen his
stock rise: up 144% over
the past three years. A deal
to launch a Venmo credit
card rolls out in 2020.
12 TOM LINEBARGER,
CEO of Cummins, notched
one-year net income
growth of 144% in fiscal
2018 depite a difficult
trade environment.
13 Surprise! What’s now
the No. 2 footwear brand
in the U.S. behind Nike?
That would be Skechers,
helmed by CEO ROBERT
GREENBERG.
BUSINESSPERSON OF THE YEAR
READ MORE SEE FULL
PROFILES OF ALL OUR 2019
BUSINESS PEOPLE OF THE
YEAR AT FORTUNE.COM.
14 At only 48, JOEY WAT
of Yum China has become
not only a female Fortune
500 CEO but also the
architect of a massive
expansion of brands like
Pizza Hut and KFC across
China.
15 Pretty sweet: Under
CEO JULIE SWEET, Accen-
ture revenue and EPS
continue a steady upward
climb as the company
helps clients navigate a
new tech-disrupted world.
16 Since DANIEL ZHANG,
CEO of Alibaba, took over in
2015, the online retailer’s
stock has soared 116%.
17 STRAUSS ZELNICK,
CEO of Take-Two Interac-
tive, has an MBA and a law
degree from Harvard plus
some of the hottest games
around (NBA 2K, Grand
Theft Auto). The stock is up
138% in three years.
18 JAYSHREE ULLAL,
CEO of Arista, saw revenue
grow 19% year to date, and
analysts remain confident
in the company despite
recent earnings warnings.
19 GARY GUTHART, CEO
of medical robot giant
Intuitive Surgical, grew
profits 64% over the past
12 months.
20 CHEN LIN, presi-
dent of beverage maker
Wuliangye Yibin, has deliv-
ered a 163% total return
to shareholders over the
past 12 months.
—Additional reporting
by Hadley Hitson
82
FORTUNE.COM // DECEMBER 2019
he went on to earn his
MBA and later to man-
age divisions at Adidas
and Helly Hansen and
to run Danish jeweler
Pandora.
When he took the
helm at Puma in
July 2013, Gulden ze-
roed in on the “Forever
faster” brand mantra,
which came to embody
the entire business
strategy. “Puma is about
fast products, fast ath-
letes, fast designs, and
fast decision-making,”
Gulden told the markets
when introducing his
turnaround strategy.
It’s working. Six years
on, Puma is on pace to
nearly double sales to
an estimated $6 billion
in 2019 and more than
double operating mar-
gins. Those collabora-
tions with Rihanna and
Jay-Z as well as hits like
the Clyde shoe (origi-
nally made famous by
the Knicks’ Walt “Clyde”
Frazier in the 1970s)
have propelled Puma to
nearly 20% year-over-
year sales growth in its
left-for-dead U.S. busi-
ness. The brand is as
cool in Brooklyn as it is
in Beijing. Says Beren-
berg analyst Graham
Renwick: “At the rate
they’re growing, they
should be closing in on
No. 3 globally” behind
Nike and Adidas. Over
three years, the stock
has returned 232%.
Says NPD’s Matt
Powell: “Puma has read
the market well.” Guess
it’s that vision thing.
—Bernhard Warner
“Puma” were seldom
uttered in the same sen-
tence. In 2013, Puma
was losing everywhere.
Sales were tanking.
Market share was slip-
ping. More ominously,
the brand had little
street or performance
cred. Ballers wanted
Nike. Skateboarders
wanted Vans. Nobody
wanted Pumas.
To regain the alle-
giance of athletes, Puma
turned to one: Bjørn
Gulden.
In his youth, Gulden
was a footballer. He
played soccer profes-
sionally in the 1980s in
his native Norway and
for two seasons in Ger-
many for FC Nuremberg,
just down the road from
Puma headquarters. A
midfielder, he wasn’t
much of a goal-scorer.
His talent lay in a kind
of supercharged field
vision that’s stuck with
him all these years.
After his career ended,
Q3 2016 Q3 2019
PUMA REVENUES
(QUARTERLY,
TRAILING 12
MONTHS)
0
1
2
3
4
5
$6 billion $5.9 B.
Puma Scores on Its
Quarterly Goals
list: 6-20
