Shareholders, shareholder representatives, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the executive board and the supervisory board, in my capacity as chair of the supervisory board, I would like to welcome you to the first virtual annual general meeting of shareholders in the history of adidas AG. Let me first introduce the persons who are present today. We have deliberately kept their number to a minimum. On the far right of the stage, you can see the notary, Ms. Veronika Grümmer. Ms. Grümmer is taking the minutes of today's annual general meeting. On my right is Thomas Rabe, the deputy chair of our supervisory board. On my left, you see Kasper Rorsted, our CEO, and Harm Ohlmeyer, our CFO. The other members of the executive board and supervisory board have joined the meeting via telepresence. The proxies appointed by the company are also present here in person.
I would like to extend a very warm welcome to you all. Shareholders, with the supervisory board's approval, the executive board resolved to hold the AGM as a virtual meeting. In doing so, the company is using an option created by the German legislature in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual format of this year's annual general meeting of shareholders is mainly a measure to protect our shareholders, staff members, and service providers. Health has always been a top priority of adidas. A live audio and video webcast of this AGM in German and English is available on the website of the company and the shareholder portal. This year, you did not have to travel to a conference center and expose yourselves to possible infection risks. Instead, you can follow the AGM on the screen of your computer.
Of course, we would've liked to welcome you personally, as we did all the years before. We hope that we can make up for this next time. Before I conclude my introductory remarks, let me take this opportunity briefly to introduce Brian Grevy, our newly appointed Executive Board Member. Brian has been a member of the Executive Board since February 2020 and is responsible for Global Brands. He began his career in his home country of Denmark at Reebok Nordics. After that, he held various management positions with more and more responsibility for adidas at the regional and local levels. He worked for the apparel company, GANT, where he became Chief Marketing Officer and later CEO. I'm pleased that Brian has returned to adidas and would like to congratulate him on his appointment. Brian has succeeded Eric Liedtke, who left adidas after 25 years to pursue new career opportunities.
In the period since the last annual general meeting, Karen Parkin also retired from the executive board. Karen has left adidas after 23 years of service to allow a realignment of human resources in terms of staffing. I would like to thank Karen and Eric for their many years of successful service with the company. I also wish to congratulate Kasper Rorsted, because just a few days ago, the supervisory board resolved to extend his mandate as CEO of the company by another five-year term until July 2026. Kasper has driven the implementation of our long-term strategy, Creating the New, with great power and success. With him at the helm, the management team has succeeded in steering adidas and its staff through this unprecedented crisis safely and in good health. The supervisory board feels that, especially in difficult times like these, continuity and strong leadership are ever so important. Congratulations, Kasper.
Ladies and gentlemen, the virtual format of the annual general meeting requires a number of changes to the standard procedure. After dealing with the formalities, we will proceed to the business to be transacted. Our CEO, Kasper, will give his report on the performance and financial situation of the company. I will present the report by the supervisory board. After that, the executive and supervisory boards will answer the questions that have been submitted before the AGM. When the questions have been answered, I will make some remarks on the voting on the agenda. After the voting is closed, we will start counting the ballots. This year, the adidas shareholder portal plays a particularly crucial role for the exercise of your shareholder rights.
The portal allows you to cast your votes electronically or to appoint either the proxies designated by the company or other persons to vote on your behalf. Today, during the AGM, you can cast your votes or appoint proxies only via the shareholder portal and only until the counting of the ballots starts. I will remind you of this in due time. However, please note that we cannot exclude a delay in the video and audio transmission. In other words, you should cast your votes in good time and not wait until the last possible moment. You can also use the shareholder portal to lodge an objection to a decision of the general meeting of shareholders. This year, we will not have a general debate in the usual way. Instead, you, the shareholders, were given the opportunity to submit questions via the shareholder portal. Many of you have done so.
Thank you for that. After the report by the supervisory board, the executive and supervisory boards will respond to your questions. For further details on the shareholder rights, please refer to the explanations in the shareholder portal, or on the company website, or in the invitation. In the event of technical problems, we will provide further information on the shareholder portal if possible. Let me address some more formalities now. For the record, this annual general meeting has been convened in due form and time, and the relevant statutory documents were duly published. The mandatory documents and the invitation convening the AGM are accessible on the company's website. The notary, Ms. Grümmer, has received a printout of the notice of the annual general meeting. She will attach that printout to the minutes of the meeting. No requests for amendments or candidacies were submitted to the company by shareholders.
The company received one counter motion, which it published fully and without delay on its website. Finally, please note that you are not permitted to make your own audio or video recordings. Ladies and gentlemen, before I turn to the agenda, I would like to address you with a few very personal remarks. As you know, this is my last annual general meeting as Chair of the Supervisory Board of adidas AG. With effect from the close of this AGM, I will resign from the Supervisory Board after 16 years of service. I have been Chairman of the Supervisory Board for 11 years now. During that time, adidas has gone through dynamic transitions. Today, it stands as a leading global company of the sporting goods industry. I am deeply grateful that I had the privilege of being part of that change.
After these years, I feel a deep sense of closeness and connection with this fantastic company. Although I am resigning, I will continue to be a close friend of adidas. I would like to use this opportunity to thank you, dear shareholders, for your confidence. I also wish to thank the executive board and the members of the supervisory board for their cooperation and partnership during the past 16 years, which was always based on trust, and wish them all the best for their future. Of course, I want to thank the employees of adidas around the globe, they are 60,000, for making the company what it is today, the best sports company in the world. I am now passing the torch to very good hands. The supervisory board has elected Thomas Rabe as the new Chairman of the Supervisory Board as from the close of this meeting.
Thomas has been a member of the supervisory board since May 2019. I'm convinced that in Thomas Rabe, the supervisory board has appointed an outstanding leadership personality who will lead adidas to sustained success. Thomas, thank you for accepting, thank you for your commitment to adidas. Now, let me hand the floor over to you.
Thank you, Igor. Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, I'm looking forward to my new function as chair of the supervisory board of adidas, starting with the close of this AGM, and I want to thank the members of the supervisory board for their confidence. I promise you, dear shareholders, that I will exercise this important function responsibly and with plenty of energy and passion. In my role as one of the two deputy chairs of the supervisory board during the past 18 months, I've been able to gain deep insights into the company. Igor, after 16 years of service, you're leaving the supervisory board, and this marks the end of an era for adidas and at adidas. An era during which adidas has evolved to become one of the most successful sporting goods companies in the world, consistently aligned for sustainable and profitable growth.
You have contributed greatly to this, and on behalf of the supervisory board, I want to express our sincere thanks. With your open, direct, and humorous way, it has always been pleasant and cooperative, and we have been able to take decisions together. We owe you a lot of thanks, respect, and acknowledgment. Igor, the best to you. We need to lead adidas through this difficult year and to position our company for future success. My many years of service on executive boards and supervisory boards have allowed me to develop skills I want to contribute to adidas in the supervisory board work and in consultations with the executive board. My experience in leading an enterprise should receive a special mention here.
I'm currently CEO of the Bertelsmann Media Group, and nine years as CEO, I have expertise in international markets, finance, human resources, personnel development, and particularly in the areas that will play a crucial role in the future development of adidas, technology and digital transformation. In addition to that, for many years, I was chairman of the supervisory board of Symrise AG, very successful company listed on the MDAX. I'm very much looking forward to this new function and the good collaboration on the supervisory board and executive board, and I'm looking forward to the dialogue with you, dear shareholders. Thank you very much, and back to you, Igor.
Thank you, Thomas, for your kind words. Before we proceed to the business to be transacted, I would like to announce a second change on the supervisory board. With the close of today's annual general meeting, Bodo Uebber will succeed Herbert Kauffmann as Chairman of the Audit Committee. Herbert Kauffmann will remain a member of the supervisory board until the 2021 annual general meeting. I would like to congratulate Bodo Uebber on his appointment and thank Herbert Kauffmann for his long years of service in that function. Ladies and gentlemen, I now turn to the agenda for today's meeting and bring agenda items one to seven before the meeting, which will be discussed together. For agenda item one, I would like to give the floor to Kasper Rorsted for his presentation, which will start after a short video.
It just seems like our general emotions of life, the whole rollercoaster, has been sort of condensed a little bit more. It's kind of hard to know how you're going to feel waking up. There's multiple layers to returning back to competition because I haven't raced since my dad's accident. I think the next time I get in the start gate, in a lot of ways, it'll feel like the first time ever, but I hope that racing still feels as special as it always has. I hope it still feels like I'm doing what I set out to do when I was a little girl, and doing the thing that I grew up learning to love because I did it with my family. I don't really want to move forward, but what I found with skiing is that it's always been an outlet for me.
When I'm able to race again, it's going to be an escape from facing a reality that I and my family don't want to face. I'd say I'm excited, a little bit nervous. Yeah, the world's a different place now than it was a month and two months ago, for sure.
Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of my colleagues on the Executive Board and the entire adidas team, I'd like to welcome you all to our 2020 Annual General Meeting. Actually, the idea was for us to meet in Fürth, back in May. Well, now, today, I'm speaking to you from our corporate headquarters, the World of Sports in Herzogenaurach. Over the next 30 minutes, I'd like to report on where the company stands. Given the timing of this AGM, I will talk not only about the 2019 financial year, but also about the development of our business during the first half of 2020. In other words, I'll talk about adidas prior to and adidas during the COVID-19 crisis. Before I turn to my report, I'd like to say a word of thanks.
As you know, Igor Landau will retire from our Supervisory Board with effect from the end of today's AGM. Igor has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 2004 and its Chairman since 2009. During his time in office, the company did extremely well. Sales and headcount have risen fourfold since 2004. Net income has increased by a factor of seven. In 2004, the company was valued at EUR 4 billion. Today, its market capitalization is more than 12 times higher at EUR 50 billion. Igor, these figures speak for themselves, and they speak volumes about you. You've done a tremendous job for this company, and for this, you have earned the heartfelt gratitude of the entire Executive Board, of all employees, and I'm sure of all our shareholders.
On a personal note, I'd like to add that I've always greatly valued the professional and collaborative nature of our exchanges. Thank you very much, Igor. As announced in February, Igor Landau will be succeeded as Chairman of the Supervisory Board by Thomas Rabe, Chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann. Thomas was appointed to the adidas Supervisory Board in May 2019 and has served as its Deputy Chairman since then. Thomas, I very much look forward to continuing our fruitful and constructive collaboration. I want to thank you both, Igor and Thomas, as well as the entire Supervisory Board for your confidence. I look forward to leading the company, together with the team, toward a successful and sustainable future in the years to come. Let's now turn to the 2019 financial year. 2019 was a special year for us. We celebrated the 70th anniversary of adidas.
It was in 1949 that Adi Dassler had the company entered in the commercial register. At the time, adidas had 47 employees, and its activities were mainly restricted to Germany. Today, adidas is a global brand and an international company with 60,000 employees. We're immensely proud of our history and our roots in Germany. To this day, we continue to live up to Adi Dassler's philosophy. Adi had one goal: to create the best products for athletes. We want to be the best sports company in the world. Great sporting achievements will remain forever connected with the three-stripes brand. Just think of the first World Cup win for the German national team in 1954. Many adidas products, such as Superstar or Stan Smith, have an established place in the history of sport and fashion.
It was an emotional moment when we celebrated our company's birthday together with Adi's daughter, Siggi, and other members of the Dassler family. Guests of honor also included our creative partner, Pharrell Williams, tennis icon, Stan Smith, football world champion, Philipp Lahm, Olympic champions, Laura Dahlmeier, Magdalena Neuner, and Kristina Vogel. Also present, of course, were Run-DMC, who scored a smash hit with "My Adidas." In terms of business, 2019 was a success. In spite of a few supply chain shortages, we increased sales to EUR 23.6 billion. This translates into 6% currency-neutral growth. In EUR terms, the growth rate was 8%. Please note that in the further course of my speech, as in previous years, I will always refer to our top-line growth in currency neutral terms. Our gross margin climbed 20 basis points to 52%.
Our operating margin improved 40 basis points to 11.3%, the highest level in the company's history. Net income from continuing operations once again grew significantly faster than sales, increasing around 12% to EUR 1.9 billion, that too is a new record. In the past year, we completed the second tranche of our multi-year share buyback program, buying back 3.2 million shares for a total of EUR 815 million. Taking into consideration the dividend payment of EUR 664 million for the 2018 financial year, which was paid out in May 2019, we once more returned EUR 1.5 billion to our shareholders in 2019. Our strategic growth drivers, Adidas North America, Greater China, and e-commerce, all contributed to our sales growth at proportionally higher rates. E-com was our fastest-growing channel, with a 34% increase year-over-year.
This shows just how important it is to offer our consumers the perfect shopping experience on adidas.com and reebok.com. Greater China grew at a double-digit rate for the fifth year in a row, up 15%. Adidas North America was harder hit by supply chain shortages. Despite this, we achieved 7% growth. This means that we outperformed our competitors and that we've been able to further increase our market share in the world's largest sporting goods market. Sales were up across all market segments. In our home market of Europe, we returned to growth with a 3% sales increase. Growth in North America, including Reebok, was 8%, in Asia-Pacific, 10%, in Latin America, 7%, in the emerging markets, 13%, and Russia CIS, 8%. It's not just the figures that are moving in the right direction. Adidas' commitment to sustainability started way before the topic gained global attention.
In fact, we've been leading the industry in this regard for over 20 years. For the 20th year in a row, adidas was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. These benchmarks evaluate the sustainability of the 2,500 biggest companies worldwide. Sustainability is, in fact, an integral part of our business model. For example, in 2019, we produced more than 11 million pairs of shoes from plastic waste collected from beaches and coastal regions. That's more than twice the amount produced the year before. From 2024 onward, we are committed to using only recycled polyester. Our goal to end plastic waste is the best expression of our purpose that through sport, we have the power to change lives. The use of recycled materials is just one example of our many sustainability activities. The spectrum ranges from waste prevention and take-back programs for used products to climate protection.
All these activities are helping us to reach a significant milestone: to be climate neutral, both as a company and in our supply chain by 2050. By the end of 2019, one thing was certain. We were on the right track. All the targets we had set by concluding our strategic business plan, Creating the New in 2020, were within reach. We've come a long way since embarking on this journey at the beginning of 2016. We added almost EUR 7 billion to our top line. Our net margin improved around 500 basis points to a record 11.3%. Our net income grew by EUR 1.2 billion. By the end of 2019, the adidas company was better and stronger than ever. We celebrated a significant birthday in 2019. 2019 was a successful year. This success was made possible by our 60,000 employees.
I'd like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to them. Given the successes of 2019, we were very much looking forward to 2020. It was meant to be a very special year of sport with the UEFA European Championship and the Olympic Games. The German national football team was to have been based on our campus. Came coronavirus. Corona hit the world and adidas at full tilt. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the world has been in crisis mode, and I'm sure that your lives too have changed fundamentally as a result of coronavirus. The COVID-19 crisis first hit adidas in late January in China, our most profitable market. In mid-March, one after the other, Europe, America, and Latin America went into lockdown mode.
Within three days, 70% of our adidas and Reebok stores were closed. All of a sudden, we had no more revenue while we were still incurring costs. In the long term, that's an unsustainable situation, even for the soundest of companies. We reacted quickly. From one day to the next, we were forced to change our entire processes. We held daily executive board meetings to make prompt decisions, because there was no such thing as a blueprint for this global crisis. From the start of the COVID-19 crisis, our focus was on two things. First, securing the health and safety of our employees. Second, steering the company through the crisis as best we could. We achieved both. We implemented comprehensive hygiene concepts at all our locations. We closed stores and offices when required to by circumstances and local regulations.
There were periods when over 40,000 of our employees were working from home. We provided our employees with comprehensive information about preventive measures. Perhaps most important of all, we've safeguarded jobs throughout the COVID-19 crisis. To navigate the company safely through the crisis, we have set our financial focus entirely on cash flow. We've established strict cost and working capital controls. To secure liquidity, the executive board already deferred 50% of board compensation as at the end of March. The other management levels have also been deferring parts of their compensation payout since the end of March until further notice. Neither the executive board nor the management team will get any bonuses for the 2020 financial year. In order to secure the company's financial flexibility, we also applied for a KfW loan.
In mid-April, we received the approval of the German government for the participation of KfW, Germany's state-owned development bank, in a loan amounting to EUR 3 billion. I'd like to take this opportunity to once more thank the German government. I'd like to make one thing clear. The sole purpose of the KfW loan is to bridge the exceptional circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. We will, of course, repay any used portions of the loan, including interest and fees, as quickly as possible. In addition, we've also stopped our share buyback program as of mid-March. Today, we're proposing to this annual general meeting not to pay out a dividend for the 2019 financial year. The rationale for this is that we need to maintain the company's financial flexibility and comply with the requirements of the KfW loan, which include the de facto suspension of dividend payments.
For this, I ask for your approval and your understanding. This decision will also help overcome the crisis and secure the long-term wellbeing of adidas. I mentioned that since the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, we've been holding daily executive board meetings to make prompt decisions. Many of these decisions were the right ones, others were not so good. The decision to hold back rent payments was not a good one. We faced a great deal of criticism as a result from politicians and from society as a whole. We quickly reversed the decision and issued a formal public apology. The feedback we received for the apology was very positive, the adidas image quickly recovered as a result. This has been confirmed by internal analyses and external studies.
In fact, a survey conducted by one market research institute in June ranked adidas as Germany's favorite sneaker brand. We also contributed to projects aimed at coping with the COVID-19 health crisis. We support the Solidarity Fund of the World Health Organization. We donate products to relief organizations in Germany. We provided medical supplies in China and with funding from us, our partners produced masks for healthcare workers. Even during COVID-19, we put our consumers at the center of everything we do. The lockdowns saw the launch of our most successful digital campaign, #HomeTeam. This campaign reached more than 400 million people worldwide. Over 3,000 of our athletes and partners were involved in the campaign. Now, with sports activities resuming in many regions, we've launched our next successful digital campaign, Ready for Sport. Many of our professional teams are gearing up again, which is a good thing for us.
In Bayern Munich, we equip the German football champion. Real Madrid and Juventus Turin also won their respective leagues. Arsenal London won the FA Cup in the U.K. This week sees the start of the final stages of the Champions League in Lisbon. Despite this extremely challenging coronavirus crisis, we've also performed very well in operational terms. We quickly switched our focus to the market and the distribution channel that remained open, China and e-commerce. In China, we returned to year-on-year growth as early as May, and total sales for Q2 in China were in line with the previous year. Our e-commerce trade is booming. Business was up 35% in the first quarter. In the second quarter, the trend continued to accelerate upwards to 93%. We redeployed resources and employees to this distribution channel and achieved outstanding results.
In this regard, we also reaped the rewards of having systematically developed our online trade in recent years. The COVID-19 crisis will further reinforce the trend towards digitalization. I now turn to a topic that I personally, and the company as a whole, care very deeply about. How can we, as a company, become even more diverse and inclusive? How can we achieve equal opportunities and take even more decisive action in the face of racism and discrimination? Let me first put this on the record in the starkest terms. adidas and Reebok stand united against racism. In many respects, we are already a company that leads on diversity issues. adidas is international to its core. People from more than 100 nations work at our corporate headquarters in Herzogenaurach alone. The executive board and supervisory board have international representation.
We've also made good progress in increasing the number of women in leadership positions. Our target for the end of this year had been for women to make up 32% of our management executives. We already exceeded this target by the end of 2019 at 34%. Unfortunately, over the past few weeks, it has come to our attention after many individual conversations with our employees, in particular our Black employees, that diversity and inclusion have not been implemented consistently in all areas of the company. Many of our employees told us and told me personally that there are not enough equal opportunities and development opportunities for all. That is not acceptable. It's a priority for us to make adidas an even more diverse and inclusive company. We're therefore committed to implementing a number of measures. These include, among others, establishing a global committee to accelerate inclusion and equality.
To underscore the importance of this issue, I will head the committee as executive sponsor. Signing the Juneteenth Pledge, an initiative that, among others, calls on companies to make June 19th, Juneteenth, a paid holiday for employees in the U.S. We already did so this year. June 19th recognizes the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S. We have set new targets in the U.S. for increased representation of Black and Latin people within our U.S. workforce. Our aim in future is to fill at least 30% of all new positions at adidas and Reebok with Black and Latin people. We fund 50 university scholarships in the U.S. each year for Black students. We're investing $120 million in the U.S. toward ending racism and supporting Black communities through 2025. We'll keep you updated on the progress of these measures.
Let me now briefly talk about our business development in the first half of 2020. After a low point in the second quarter, we now see light at the end of the tunnel. Our business is recovering, provided of course, that we're spared a second surge of the coronavirus pandemic and months-long lockdowns. During the second quarter, up to mid-May, almost the entire world was shut down. 70% of our stores remained closed for several weeks. Not even our robust e-com sales could offset the losses. Overall, sales fell by 34% in the second quarter. Our operating profit was negative at -EUR 333 million. From what we know today, our business will undergo a gradual recovery in the third quarter. Globally, over 90% of our stores are open again.
Although fewer customers are coming into our stores on account of COVID-19 safety regulations, those that do are buying more, which tells us that our products and brands have a lot going for them. We expect a further decline in sales for the current quarter, but this decline will be significantly less pronounced than in the second quarter and will fall in the mid- to high single-digit range. Operating profit will clearly turn positive again. We expect an operating profit of EUR 600 million to EUR 700 million in the third quarter. This will be an improvement of around EUR 1 billion compared to the second quarter. Unfortunately, it remains impossible to predict how the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the global economy and consumer behavior will develop. Therefore, we cannot make a full year forecast for 2020. Nevertheless, we feel we are well prepared for future challenges.
Before I conclude my report, I'd like to share another item of good news with you. Last week, following a thorough assessment, we received strong first-time investment-grade ratings from the two leading ratings agencies, Standard & Poor's and Moody's. Standard & Poor's gave Adidas an A+ rating with a stable outlook. Moody's awarded the company an A2 with a stable outlook. In their respective statements, both rating agencies emphasized Adidas's global scale and reach within an attractive industry, among others. They stressed the awareness, popularity, and innovative power of our brands. They also recognized the solid track record of sales growth and operating margin improvement over the past five years. Adidas is now one of the highest-ranked companies, both in Germany and in the sporting goods industry as a whole. As a result of these ratings, Adidas is well-positioned to gain access to the international capital market at any time.
Therefore, we can now continue to optimize our capital structure and financing costs. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to summarize the key points of my speech. 2019 was a successful year for adidas. We set new records for sales, operating margin, and our net income. adidas has never been stronger. We started the year in the belief that all Creating the New targets would be reached. We were looking forward to the UEFA European Championship and Olympic Games. The COVID-19 struck us at full tilt and confronted us with big challenges. We reacted quickly. Our focus has been upon two things. First, securing the health and safety of our employees. Second, steering the company through this unprecedented crisis as best we can. On the whole, we've done a good job. We've secured and improved the company's financial flexibility.
We focused on developing our e-com business, and we invested in China. We've inspired our consumers with digital campaigns. We're working with our employees to make adidas even more diverse and inclusive. Our goal is to create an adidas culture that we can all be proud of, and I will do everything in my power to achieve this. In business terms, we can now see light at the end of the tunnel. Most of our stores are now open. Customers are returning. The decline in sales will slow down considerably in the third quarter. Operating profit will once again be clearly positive. In the long term, I'm absolutely confident that the sporting goods industry will provide adidas with above average opportunities. For many people, a healthy lifestyle is getting more and more important. They want to stay fit and healthy by doing sports.
Wearing sportswear is becoming more and more popular, especially for people working from home. adidas will continue to benefit from both of these trends. As a global company with strong brands, we're very well positioned for the years ahead. Ladies and gentlemen, the past few months have not been easy. The only way to overcome such a crisis is to stick together, and that's why, once more, I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all adidas employees. They have demonstrated resilience and shown great commitment during a difficult period. I'd also like to thank you, our shareholders, for the trust you have placed in us. We will continue to do everything we can to remain worthy of this trust. Please stay safe, stay healthy, and thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you for your remarks, Kasper. At this point, allow me to give my report on the supervisory board's activities during fiscal 2019. Based on the reports given by the executive board, the supervisory board had in-depth discussions on the most essential topics concerning the company. It supported the executive board by providing advice and monitored its management activities. For more details on the issues addressed by the supervisory board and its committees, I would refer you to the supervisory board's report in the 2019 annual report. Allow me to present some key areas of our work. In the past financial year, the Supervisory Board dealt particularly with the execution of our strategic business plan, Creating the New, and mitigating the supply chain shortages in North America.
Other important topics included the development of business in the emerging markets and Asia Pacific, the development at Reebok, the retail strategy, and innovation at adidas. The Supervisory Board also gave special attention to the topic of sustainability. Another focal area of the Supervisory Board were Executive Board matters. Above all, the appointment of Martin Shankland and Brian Grevy as Executive Board members. The Supervisory Board had in-depth discussions on the compensation of and long-term succession planning for Executive Board members. Last but not least, we addressed matters concerning the Supervisory Board itself. A notable topic was the re-election of the employee and the shareholder representatives on the Supervisory Board.
Ladies and gentlemen, even though the events associated with the COVID-19 pandemic happened after 2019, the year under report, I would like to stress that the Supervisory Board and executive boards are making great cooperative efforts to steer adidas through these unprecedented times. Within a very short time, the coronavirus pandemic caused lasting changes to our lives. Its profound effects on our health, societies, and economies have affected each and every one of us. adidas is facing the major task of having to adapt its entire business to the new situation. This is not always easy. adidas is determined to meet those challenges and will seek to seize the opportunities that the crisis offers. I am thinking especially of the accelerated digitalization of workflows and of the business model.
I would like to use this opportunity to express the special thanks of the Supervisory Board, and I am sure I can also speak for the shareholders here, to the Executive Board and all adidas employees for their great commitment in these times. Your motivation, your resolve to stand together, your willingness to embrace change, and your stamina are such vital elements in the success of adidas during the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of this, the members of the adidas Supervisory Board decided to forgo 30% of their compensation for the current fiscal year. That money will be donated to causes such as SOS Children's Villages. Ladies and gentlemen, before we proceed to the questions and answers on all items of the agenda, I would like to make two more statements. No resolution needs to be passed under agenda item 1.
The Supervisory Board approved the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements prepared by the Executive Board. The annual financial statements have thus been adopted. With regard to item 2 of the agenda, I point out that the proposal of the Executive and Supervisory Boards on the appropriation of retained earnings differs from the proposal in the 2019 annual financial statements. Item 6 of the agenda concerns the election of a new Supervisory Board member representing the shareholder side. As mentioned before, my term of office will expire at the close of today's annual general meeting. Therefore, a new member must be elected. The Supervisory Board is very pleased not to get rid of me, but that Mr. Christian Klein, the CEO of SAP, is standing as candidate, and proposes to elect him to the Supervisory Board of adidas AG.
The proposal is based on the recommendation of the nomination committee, taking into account the profile of skills and expertise and the supervisory board's targets on its composition. The supervisory board is convinced that with his outstanding expertise in technology and digital transformation, Mr. Klein would be a valuable addition to the supervisory board. Christian Klein would like to introduce himself to you in a video message which we recorded prior to the annual general meeting.
Dear adidas shareholders, greetings from Walldorf. I would like to introduce myself to you briefly. I'm Christian Klein, and I'm CEO and Chief Operating Officer of SAP SE. SAP is the market leader in business software, headquartered in Walldorf, near Heidelberg. For nearly 50 years, we have been supporting our more than 440,000 customers in more than 180 countries to optimize their businesses. I am 40 years old, married, and in April I became father for the second time. I grew up in the Rhine Neckar metropolitan area. I studied international business administration in Mannheim. When I joined SAP as a student 20 years ago, I never ever imagined that I would ever one day follow in the footsteps of such visionaries as Hasso Plattner and Dietmar Hopp. I had the good fortune to have the opportunity to get to know many SAP areas and locations.
During my time as CFO of SAP SuccessFactors, one of our acquisitions, I lived in San Francisco for a while, where I learned a lot about the startup attitude that you find in Silicon Valley. I'm still impressed and inspired by that courage to experiment and to create a corporate culture that really promotes creativity. In 2013, I returned to Germany, became chief controlling officer in 2014, and was appointed chief operating officer two years later. In that position, I was responsible for the transformation of our company into an intelligent enterprise. I learned how important it is not just to have a holistic approach, but above all, to involve and inspire people to join us on that road into the new digital future. In 2018, I became member of the SAP Executive Board, and I was responsible for our core product development.
Since October 2019, I have been CEO of SAP, initially as co-CEO and since April 2020 as sole CEO. I have had the privilege to support and advise many companies on their digital transformation. Direct contact with customers, partners, and colleagues has been and remains key for me. Right now, such contacts are usually virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I usually travel a lot. There are two things in my life that I never want to neglect, my family and sport. Sport has always been an important part of my life, and it's great for supporting a healthy work-life balance. My first contact with adidas happened when I was a kid on the football field or the tennis court. For me, adidas is one of the best examples that innovation and sustainability do not exclude each other. In fact, they go hand in hand.
The company adidas is also in a phase of digital transformation. My expertise in that very area and my affinity to the brand with the three stripes make me a good match for your supervisory board. I know what it means to make global companies fit for the digital future. I know how important a role data and new technologies play in that process, and you could benefit from my rich expertise in that area. With more than 20 years of experience in the software industry, I would like to support adidas on its way forward. I would be delighted to have your confidence and to be elected to the adidas supervisory board. Thank you very much. Stay safe and be well.
Thank you, Christian. I have no doubts whatsoever that you, the shareholders, will agree with us that Christian Klein is indeed a unique opportunity. He will help to even improve the quality and depth of our work on the supervisory board. With that, I would like to turn to the responses to the questions on all agenda items. As stated in the notice of meeting, you, the shareholders, had the opportunity to submit questions via the shareholder portal until 8th of August at midnight. Many of you have done so. The company has received a total of 117 questions. 117. The executive board and the supervisory board will now respond to all questions insofar as this information is required for the appropriate judging of the items of the agenda.
In the same way as with a regular annual general meeting of shareholders, we will not provide information which may cause material damage to the company or an affiliated company. Therefore, we hope you will appreciate that the company will not respond to the questions of one shareholder on matters in relation to a subsidiary in India, the Reebok India Company, as these matters date back many years and concern pending proceedings. I will now hand over the floor to Ms. Claudia Lange. Claudia is Head of adidas Media Relations. She will take you through the questions and answers. Thank you, Igor. Dear shareholders, thank you for all the questions that have reached us via the shareholder portal. As in previous years, we will first address the questions submitted by SdK and DSW, representing retail investors.
After that, we will answer the questions asked by our institutional investors, Deka, DWS, and Union Investment. To conclude, we shall deal with all the other questions we have received, grouped by topic. Within these three blocks, we will proceed chronologically as a rule, i.e., we will start with the questions or catalogs of questions that reach us first via our shareholder portal. Questions covering the same content will be merged. Let us now start with the questions asked by the representatives of our retail investors, specifically the catalog of questions submitted by Mr. Gerhard Jäger on behalf of the Association for the Protection of Investors, SdK. Mr. Jäger first asked two questions around e-commerce, which I'd like to address to you, Kasper. What is the expected revenue generated through e-commerce activities for 2020? Does the board see opportunities to extend the online sales channels further?
We are convinced that the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating a structural transition toward more online buying. During the first six months of this year, our own currency-neutral online revenue rose by 67%. For this year, we raised our own online revenue target to more than $4 billion. For comparison, at the start of our strategic business plan, Creating the New, in 2015, we set ourselves a target of €2 billion and raised it to €4 billion in 2017.
Thank you. Next, Mr. Jäger would like to know how the Reebok brand developed during the current year. This is also to you, Kasper.
In the past number of years, the Reebok brand showed a positive development under the turnaround plan Muscle Up. After returning to profitability in 2018, Reebok achieved growth again in 2019. Of course, this year, Reebok is also very much affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, like others. During the first six months, revenue fell by 27%, which was roughly in line with the development of the group.
Thank you. Next question, also to you, Kasper. A question concerning the development of net sales in China. What are the Executive Board's expectations in this regard for the full year 2020, assuming that there's not going to be a second corona surge?
At the beginning of the year, China was the first country in which we were affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Since mid-April, all of our own stores in China and our partner stores have been open again, allowing us to record double-digit growth as early as May and June. This means that Q2 net sales in China were in line with last year. Given the persistent uncertainties, it is impossible for us to provide a general outlook for the full year 2020 at this time, and the same goes for individual markets such as China. Our long-term growth prospects in this market remain attractive.
Next, two questions concerning our product categories. What share of total net sales does adidas expect for its outdoor business over the next two years following your entry in the market for alpine skiing apparel? What activities are you planning for the e-gaming business?
Due to its growth momentum, the outdoor market is of great interest to us, with the adidas Terrex brand already giving us a strong position in such sports as trail running and climbing. Based on this experience, we're going to offer a winter sports collection for cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, and snowboarding as of fall/winter 2021. Please understand that for competition reasons, we cannot disclose any details concerning our growth ambitions in individual categories. As for esports, we've been active in this business for quite a while now and will continue to do so in the future because this market allows us to get in touch with a large number of relevant consumers.
Our activities include sponsorship of the FIFA eWorld Cup and our close collaboration with game developers EA Sports and 2K Games. In addition, in August last year, we entered into a partnership with Ninja, one of the highest profile esports gamers in the world, who is now one of our brand ambassadors.
Thank you. Next question also for you, Kasper. Mr. Jaeger has a production-related question. Why did you close down the Speedfactories in Ansbach and Atlanta?
Setting up and operating Speedfactories gave us important insights and skills in the automated production of sports shoes. We're going to use that experience to further improve production in Asia, in collaboration with our local partners. We're currently in the process of combining our newly gained know-how with the technological skills of our suppliers. Ultimately, our customers are going to benefit from this because it allows us to offer great product diversity with shorter lead times.
Thank you. Mr. Jäger also asked a number of questions around liquidity and funding, which I'd like to address to you, Harm. The first question is, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, what major measures were taken to cut costs as part of the prioritization of liquidity, and how high will marketing expenditure be in 2020? He also asked about the current liquidity situation of adidas and how high the current cash position is and the unutilized credit lines are. His final questions on the topic are there plans to issue a bond, and if so, to what extent? When will credit ratings be available? After the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, we focused immediately on our cash flow. However, we were careful at all times to implement tactical cost-cutting measures without compromising the long-term future prospects of the company.
The effects of our quick response are reflected in the figures of the second quarter. Other operating expenses declined by 77%, especially in marketing expenditure. We were able to achieve a 25% reduction because we stepped down activities connected with physical presence events. Therefore, we are expecting reduced marketing expenditure for the full year 2020. Lower traveling expenses, IT, and project costs also contributed to the cost reduction. Thanks to the focus on the cash flow, our cash reserves were EUR 2 billion as of 30th of June 2020, hence nearly unchanged compared with the end of the first quarter. As of the 30th of June 2020, unutilized committed credit lines amounted to EUR 3.2 billion, including a KfW credit line in the amount of EUR 3 billion. At the end of the second quarter, we had not utilized that credit line at all.
Since then, we drew down EUR 500 million under the KfW credit facility, but those funds will be repaid as soon as possible, including interest and fees. Beyond that, three uncommitted credit lines are available to the company. Finally, let me address refinancing. As Kasper mentioned before, last week, the two leading rating agencies, Standard & Poor's and Moody's, assigned us investment-grade ratings of A+ and A2 respectively, both with a stable outlook. With such strong ratings, we will always have access to the capital market now, and we will use that option when the time is appropriate.
Thank you. Another question for you, Harm. How do U.S. duties on imports from China impact the U.S. business? In 2019, 16% of our footwear and 19% of our apparel were produced in China. However, these products were mostly sold in China, too. The import duties introduced from Q4 in 2019, thus had only a minor negative impact on our business. Next question to you, Kasper. In his last question, Mr. Jäger addresses our announcement to defer rent payments for our German stores in the month of April. He would like to know how we will ensure in future that sufficient consideration is given to how major corporate decisions might negatively impact the company's public image, and how we're planning to prevent unfortunate and damaging public statements in the future, or failing that, to respond faster in order to limit the damage.
As I pointed out in my presentation, our apology earned us much positive feedback. Our ongoing internal analysis of the public sentiment concerning adidas in the social media clearly shows that meanwhile, our image values have improved significantly again, and that adidas is the most popular sneaker brand in Germany, for instance. We have learned our lesson. In future, we will pay even greater heed to our public image and communicate our decisions accordingly. Thank you, and thank you, Mr. Jäger, for your questions. We will continue now with a question submitted by Ms. Daniela Berchtold on behalf of the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz e.V., DSW. Please note that we have already covered the questions on the topic of China and the KfW loan in Kasper's report, and our answers so far. We are therefore not going to repeat them.
Following on Mr. Jäger's last question, Ms. Berchtold would like to know whether we feel that our customers in Germany and the U.S. are refusing to buy our products following the announced rent deferrals and allegations of racism. She also asks whether adidas has made use of the legal option to defer rent payments, and if so, to what extent.
No, we do not get the impression that our customers refuse to buy our products. Our global sales have recovered steadily throughout the second quarter and into the third, which clearly indicates that our consumers are ready to buy our products. In Germany, we even saw a return to growth in July. We did not make use of the legal option to defer rent payments. When we apologized for our announcement to defer rent payments, as described earlier, we paid our landlords the full rent in due course. Thanks. Ms. Berchtold also asked, and this is to you, Kasper, "In light of the debate on racism in the U.S., will the company be flooded with litigation?" At the current moment, no action is pending based on the most recent events in the U.S., nor has adidas received any announcements of legal action so far.
Ms. Berchtold also asked two questions about our stores. "Some stores in the U.S. were destroyed in connection with the demonstrations there. Will you reopen them? When will you reopen them? Have all stores around the world which were closed due to COVID-19 pandemic reopened?" Five of our stores were damaged by the protest marches in the U.S. Four of them have opened again, the fifth one will reopen soon. Currently, 92% of our own stores are open again. When the remaining stores will be reopened depends on the future development of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you. Now, we have two more questions to you, Kasper, on the positive aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. Namely, "To what extent has e-commerce increased during the corona crisis, and how high is the rate of return in that segment?
Have you been able to satisfy the growing global demand, and is adidas able to benefit from the transition that comes with more and more people working from home? Our online revenue has developed extremely dynamically during the second quarter, rising by 93% on a currency-neutral basis. We have been able to fulfill the strong demand because we invested consistently into our e-commerce activities in recent years. E-commerce is a very profitable distribution channel. Its margin lies above the margin of the group. We are convinced that the current situation will give many structural drivers more momentum and accelerate change in the sporting goods industry, not just in e-commerce. This includes the so-called athleisure or athleisure trend, that is people wearing more sports clothes in private or professional contexts, and the sales figures during the first six months of the year show that these products are increasingly in demand.
Thank you, Kasper. Next, Ms. Berchtold has two questions on our inventories and supply chain, and I'd like to address them to you, Harm. "What are your inventory levels now that your stores are reopening? Are we in for excessive discounts? How is your supply chain doing? Any bottlenecks in production?" As a result of store closures, our end of June inventories rose by 46% on the year earlier. That's not surprising under the circumstances, and we're absolutely confident that we'll be able to bring them down to a normal level by the end of the year. To this end, we've adapted the amounts we order from our suppliers, and we're using our 1,000 plus factory outlets around the world and our e-commerce platform to sell out inventories. Timeless products will deliberately not be sold until 2021. Until then, they'll be part of our inventories.
Given the store closures we saw across the industry in the first half of the year, we're experiencing a discount environment that will leave its mark on our gross margin during the rest of the year. As for our global supply chain, with a few minor exceptions, it has always been up and running this year. Thank you. Next question also to you, Harm. Ms. Berchtold addresses the share buyback program. "Given the global spread of coronavirus, why didn't you suspend the share buyback program earlier? Had you, in fact, stopped the share buyback program earlier, could you have done without the KfW loan?" Up until the time when coronavirus started spreading on a global scale, the sheer dimension of the challenges this crisis would pose had been inconceivable. As soon as this dimension became more clearly discernible, which was in mid-March, we immediately stopped our share buyback program.
Stopping the share buyback program earlier would have had only a minor impact on our liquidity, since in the weeks before, the buyback volume had been low anyway. The syndicated KfW loan was indispensable for safeguarding the company's financial leeway at this time of uncertainty and hence the well-being of our employees and partners. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Berchtold, for the questions you submitted on behalf of DSW. Now that we've answered the questions raised by retail shareholder proxies, we're going to move on to the questions put by our institutional investors. First on the list is Mr. Ingo Speich, Head of Sustainability and Corporate Governance at Deka Investment. May I point out that Mr. Speich's questions concerning the impact of the public debate on rental payments and racism have already been addressed in Kasper's report and previous answers.
Mr. Speich's first question is whether adidas shouldn't have obtained a credit rating earlier to enable it to weather potential crises. In the past, we obtained funding from the capital market only on a few occasions, and each time we did so at extremely attractive terms and conditions, even without having a rating. In view of the extraordinary circumstances brought about by the coronavirus pandemic and its significant impact on the capital market, we did not hesitate to obtain ratings from the two leading rating agencies, Standard & Poor's and Moody's. As mentioned before, both agencies gave us strong investment-grade ratings last week.
Thank you, Harm. The next four questions by Mr. Speight go to you as well. They concern sustainability issues. What climate targets are you aiming for in terms of a 1.5 and 2 degree scenario for the coming years and decades? Despite the suspended reporting obligation in the framework of the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, will you report transparently? In the light of COVID-19, have you received and paid for the goods ordered from your suppliers? What protective measures do you implement in your supply chain with regard to the coronavirus? As a signatory to the UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, adidas committed to reduce both its own greenhouse gas emissions and those of its suppliers by 30% compared to the level of 2017 by 2030, and to aim for carbon neutrality by 2050. These targets are in line with a 1.5 degree target of the Paris Agreement.
For quite some time now, our company has been promoting comprehensive programs and measures that contribute to reducing CO2 emissions at our own sites and throughout our supply chain. In 2019, for instance, we managed to reduce aggregate net emissions at our own sites by more than 50% compared to the level of 2015. On the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, adidas has been a member since 2015 and has fully and punctually complied with all its corresponding obligations regarding the setting of and reporting on sustainability goals. A comprehensive report on current progress with regard to attaining our sustainability goals in 2019 is contained in the sustainability chapter of our 2019 annual report and on our corporate website. These progress reports are aligned with our self-imposed commitments in the framework of our participation in the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles.
Finally, on how we deal with our suppliers during the COVID-19 crisis. We have implemented comprehensive measures to help our suppliers, most of whom have been our partners for decades, master the crisis. In addition to the unrestricted willingness to pay for finished as well as current purchase orders, we have also provided assistance in securing bank financing for our partners. This enabled our partners to secure jobs and invest in protection measures. Thank you, Harm. Now a few questions for our future chairman of the supervisory board, Thomas Rabe. How are you going to ensure that the supervisory board can perform its duties efficiently and comprehensively, seeing that four of its members are CEOs of other companies? Are you planning to conduct an external evaluation of the work of the supervisory board?
If Mr. Klein is elected, there will be four members of the Supervisory Board who hold a position of CEO, Christian Klein, Ian Gallienne, Nafisa Reaz, and myself. In the opinion of the Supervisory Board, there is no reason to be concerned that the aforementioned Supervisory Board members might not have sufficient time for their adidas mandate. They have all assured the Supervisory Board that they have sufficient time for their mandate. This fact is also reflected in the very high meeting participation rate throughout the past financial year. The aforementioned Supervisory Board members have been extremely active as members of the adidas Board, contributing their management expertise from other companies. More recently, this experience has contributed significantly to helping adidas steer its path through the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Against this backdrop, the supervisory board is convinced that an efficient and comprehensive performance of the adidas mandate is compatible with the position as CEO of another company. An external evaluation of the work of the supervisory board last took place in 2018. This year, we will conduct a self-evaluation before we will seek external support again in 2021 to evaluate the efficacy of the supervisory board's work.
Thank you. Another question to you, Thomas. How will you prevent that the two members of the supervisory board who have functions at Bertelsmann run into a conflict of interest? Well, currently, two members of the supervisory board of adidas AG have a function at Bertelsmann SE. Bodo Uebber is Chairman of the Audit Committee and myself as the CEO of Bertelsmann. The position of the supervisory board is that there is no doubt that Bodo Uebber and I exercise our offices exclusively with the interest of adidas AG in mind. From the point of view of the supervisory board, there are no apparent conflicts of interest with respect to our work on the supervisory board of adidas and our functions at Bertelsmann. Thank you. Two more questions to you from Mr. Speich on the future composition of the supervisory board committees.
Will the new chair of the supervisory board, Thomas Rabe, become the chairman of the nominations and remuneration committees? In future, will you staff the remuneration committee with independent members? Yes, with the close of this AGM, I will become the new chairman of the supervisory board and the chair of those two committees. With the close of the AGM, the general committee, which is in charge of remuneration, will be staffed with Ian Gallienne and myself on the capital side, and Willmuta and Roland Noske on the labor side. From the point of view of the supervisory board, these two persons can be viewed as independent. Thank you. The next question is will you revise the compensation system, and if so, what performance criteria will you apply?
In view of the changed statutory requirements and the new version of the German Corporate Governance Code, structural changes to the compensation system of the executive board members will become necessary. In this context, we intend to present a revised compensation system to the AGM for approval in 2021. It has not yet been decided what performance criteria Adidas will apply in that system. They will be aligned with the new long-term business targets of the company. These targets will apply from fiscal 2021, and Adidas will present them in March next year along with a new corporate strategy.
Thank you, Thomas. We'll continue with e-commerce, and you, Kasper. How do you make sure that there are sufficient logistics capacities available for the accelerated growth of e-commerce in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis? Do you invest enough in logistics infrastructure? Indeed, growth of our e-commerce sales has accelerated. Our revenues increased by 67% on a currency-neutral basis during the first six months of 2020. We are in a position to master this kind of growth because we define digital as one of our priorities in the framework of our strategic business plan, Creating the New, in 2017. As part of that process, we built up several logistics centers for e-commerce in Europe, the U.S., and China, which offer sufficient capacity. We consider e-commerce logistics as a core competency and will therefore continue our investments in this area.
Thank you. Another question to you, Kasper. To conclude, Mr. Speich asks whether adidas is going to meet the expectations of its African American employees when it comes to increasing diversity across the entire company.
I spoke at length about this issue in my report, so allow me to be brief in answering this question. At adidas, we've promoted diversity and inclusion for many years. In fact, we're already one of the most diverse and international companies in Germany. However, over the past few months, we came to realize that what we do is not enough, especially when it comes to equal opportunities and discrimination. That's why, over the past few weeks, we swiftly took ambitious measures and set clear goals for ourselves. We'll keep you informed about the progress we're making in this regard. I'm convinced that we've drawn the right conclusions and initiated the right measures, which will now be rigorously implemented.
Mr. Speich, thank you for the questions you submitted on behalf of Deka. Next, we're going to deal with the questions raised by Mr. Hendrik Schmidt on behalf of DWS Investment. Again, some of those questions have already been answered. These include Mr. Schmidt's questions concerning the impact of the corona crisis, the share buyback, the current perception of adidas in the public eye, and the remuneration system. In addition, Mr. Schmidt raised two questions concerning the COVID-19 pandemic as follows: Given the current situation, how do you ensure that the applicable standards for health and safety on the job are upheld? To what extent does the coronavirus pandemic have an impact on adidas' short- and medium-term goals? As mentioned in my report, we took a number of measures at all adidas locations. A special team helps our employees to comply with the protective measures.
The same team is also responsible for regularly revising our measures and policies in line with any new developments and the requirements and recommendations issued by the authorities. As for our goals, as you can glean from our previous remarks, the coronavirus pandemic has temporarily had enormous negative consequences for our business. Due to the prevailing uncertainties, it's impossible for us to communicate an outlook for 2020 that also includes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, we're convinced that in the sporting goods industry, many structural drivers will be accelerated by the current situation. This will be reflected in our goals for 2025, which we are going to present in March 2021.
Thank you. The next question is for you, Kasper, as well. Mr. Schmidt is also interested in hearing more about the adidas stores in Germany. In the light of the initially announced deferral of rent payments, how many owned retail stores does adidas operate in Germany? What is the monthly rent for these stores, and what was the share of these rent payments in total revenues and profit in 2019? The announcement concerned 26 stores in Germany, most of which are rented out by large corporations. Only four of the rental agreements were with private persons, and they would have been excluded from the deferral anyway. We do not show the rents for our stores separately.
Thank you. Another question to you. How high is the share of people of color in leadership functions at adidas North America, and how high is it globally?
adidas does not measure the share of Black employees in leadership positions in some jurisdictions because of legal restrictions that apply there. As mentioned in my speech, as far as the U.S. is concerned, we have set ourselves clear targets for stronger representation of Black people as well as people of Latin American descent. Going forward, we want to fill at least 30% of all positions, of all new positions, with people of color and/or people of Latin American descent.
Another question for you, Kasper. When did the executive board hear about the allegations against Karen Parkin, and how did the executive board discuss them? As I explained in my remarks, adidas is a leading company in terms of diversity and inclusion in many respects. Together with the HR organization, Karen Parkin has played a central role over the past few years and has always acted in the best interests of our company and our people. When we talked to our employees in person, we found that we had not implemented diversity and inclusion in all areas of our company as consistently as we would have wished. We discussed the matter immediately and at length within the executive board. Faced with the situation, Karen Parkin decided in the interest of our company that a new HR leader would best drive forward the pace of change.
Thank you, Kasper. To follow up, a question to you, Igor. Were the allegations also discussed by the supervisory board, and what conclusions were reached here?
It goes without saying that the supervisory board also discussed the topic of discrimination thoroughly. Let me emphasize again, on behalf of the supervisory board, that adidas and Reebok stand united against racism and condemn discrimination in any form. The supervisory board expressly supports the measures decided on by the executive board to fight racism and to create a work environment at adidas that is even more diverse and inclusive. We should respect Karen Parkin's readiness to leave adidas in order to unite the company and to make way for accelerated change.
Thank you, Igor. Next, two questions for Harm. Why do you make out that not paying a dividend was your own decision, whereas this was a very clear requirement in the terms and conditions of the KfW loan? Under what circumstances are you going to resume the share buyback program?
We were very clear about dividend payments when we announced the KfW loan on 14th April this year. Let me quote from the press release. "One of the conditions of the syndicated loan is that adidas de facto suspends dividend payments for the duration of the facility." End of quote. Against this background, and with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, the executive and supervisory board deemed it appropriate to ease the burden on the company's liquidity by not paying out the dividend this year.
As part of our efforts to obtain ratings, we drafted a comprehensive financial guideline for adidas. According to this guideline, our financial stability, growth-driven investments, and dividend payments are our top priorities. Once these three central priorities are met, we can use any additional cash to resume the share buyback program. Another precondition is that by then, we must have repaid any used portions of the KfW loan, including interest and fees, and have terminated the loan agreement. Thank you. Let's move on to four more questions to you, Harm, regarding workplace standards in the supply chain. First of all, how do you ensure compliance of your suppliers with the demanding workplace standards of the company? Is this done by adidas itself or with the support of external consultants and/or auditors? Compliance is verified by our own team of experts. They are supported by selected external auditors.
In addition to that, we rely on independent and unannounced checks by third parties. This enables us to demonstrate the credibility of our program and to present verified information. As a member of the Fair Labor Association, adidas is subject to audits by independent auditors. Apart from site visits and document audits, the supervisory measures specifically include talks with management, confidential interviews with employees, employee representatives, and unions. We also set up complaint channels through which employees in supplier factories can report complaints and requests confidentially. Next questions. In 2018, you sent 39 warning letters to suppliers. How many did you send 2019 and in the current fiscal year? In how many cases were contracts terminated due to violations? Warning letters are an important element of our instruments to ensure compliance with the standards. In 2019, the reported total number of active warning letters was 41 in 14 countries.
In 2019, we terminated contracts with two suppliers for compliance reasons. In one case, there was insufficient progress with solving severe problems in connection with migrant workers. In another case, a supplier company refused the social and environmental affairs team admittance to the factory, so that no audit could be concluded or conducted. Thank you. Just one last question in this regard. In what way and how often do the executive and supervisory boards look at evaluations of this issue? The results gained as part of our supply chain monitoring activities, as well as any information concerning developments in our sourcing countries, are communicated on a regular basis, either in the form of monthly reports or, if necessary, directly to the board member responsible for global operations, our general counsel, and procurement management.
The progress and future goals of our sustainability program are discussed at both executive and supervisory board meetings on a regular basis. Thank you, Harm. Moving on to the remuneration system. As mentioned before, some of those questions have already been answered. In addition, Mr. Schmidt posed the following question: When will the supervisory board start revising the executive board remuneration system, and how are you planning to factor in investors' expectations? The executive board remuneration system is currently under review and will be submitted to the 2021 AGM for approval.
We take our shareholders' expectations very seriously and always take them into consideration when discussing the continuous improvement of our remuneration system. There is another question for you, Thomas, concerning supervisory board matters. Did the supervisory board make sure that for the time being, Mr. Klein is not planning to accept any other board memberships in addition to his adidas mandate? Christian Klein expressly assured the supervisory board that he would have enough time for his adidas mandate. The supervisory board has no reason whatsoever to doubt this statement. Thank you. What about the succession process for the chairmanship of the audit committee? Which members of the supervisory board currently fulfill the requirements for an independent financial expert in accordance with Section 100, Paragraph five of the German Stock Corporation Act? How will the handover take place?
The supervisory board has put in place a structured process to regulate the succession of Herbert Kauffmann as chairman of the audit committee. As has been mentioned, Bodo Uebber will succeed Herbert Kauffmann as chairman of the audit committee with the close of today's AGM. Since the beginning of this year, Bodo Uebber has been a member of the audit committee, which has given him the chance to familiarize himself with the topics and work of the audit committee. Bodo Uebber also meets the requirements for an independent financial expert in accordance with Section 100, Paragraph 5 of the German Stock Corporation Act. To conclude the questions submitted by DWS, we stay with you, Thomas, return to the issue of the AGM itself. Mr. Schmidt wants to know, how many questions have you received for today's AGM? How many of these questions will you answer?
According to which criteria will you answer them? We have received a total of 117 questions. As explained, we will answer all of them, unless answering a question might cause material damage to the company or an affiliated company. This is why we will not answer the questions of one shareholder on the topic of Reebok India, as these matters date many years back and concern pending proceedings. In the run-up to the AGM, we grouped questions together in order to avoid duplication and to ensure a structured approach to answering them, which is, of course, in the interest of all shareholders. Thank you, Mr. Schmidt, for the questions submitted on behalf of DWS. Let us now continue with a catalog of questions submitted by Dr. Van der Heijden, analyst with a focus on corporate governance at Union Investment.
Before we begin, please note that we have already provided a detailed answer to her question on diversity and inclusion. Dr. Werning addresses some questions to you, Igor and Thomas, but first to you, Igor. Why did it take Karen Parkin until June 30th, 2020, to step down as member of the executive board and head of global HR, considering that she allegedly dismissed racism as noise that didn't have anything to do with adidas at a Reebok employee meeting as early as 2019? Why was her contract renewed for another five years after that? Why, and in what amount does she receive severance pay? Karen has played a key role in the success and growth of adidas over the past few years. We are of the opinion that she elevated HR into a world-class function. She developed and led our people strategy, and she launched many successful employee programs.
From the supervisory board's perspective, it was in the best interest of the company in August last year to renew her board contract after the end of her first term of service. Karen has also played a significant part in how we fight racism. She wanted to turn adidas into an even more diverse company. As mentioned earlier, we must respect her readiness to leave adidas in order to unite the company and to enable accelerated change into an even more diverse company. Karen Parkin and the supervisory board mutually agreed to terminate her appointment as an executive board member. In the event of such an early termination of contract, the contracts for executive board members include severance payment clauses in line with market standards. These were applied for Ms. Parkin's case, too.
The severance payment amounts to twice her annual compensation and is thus in line with the German Corporate Governance Code.
Thank you. The next question is to you, Thomas. When will Ms. Parkin's former position on the executive board be filled again, and what criteria will be applied in finding a new candidate? The supervisory board is currently focusing closely on the succession planning for the global human resources executive board function. An important task for the new Chief Human Resources Officer will be to advance diversity and inclusion at adidas. I would ask you to appreciate that at this point, we cannot make any further statements. Thank you. The next final question from Dr. Werning is to you, Kasper, and it reads: How do you want to gain market share in the U.S.? We are very pleased with the progress we have been making in North America. Between 2015 and 2019, our business more than doubled in that region.
That said, in terms of positioning and market share, we are still quite far away from where we aspire to be. While North America represents nearly 40% of the global sporting goods industry, our business in North America accounts for only 20% of our worldwide revenue. Our goal is to continue our success path in North America in a sustainable way. To do so, we need to continue applying the strategy that has been successful in the past years, investing above average amounts into the market to boost brand desirability and visibility. We thank Dr. Werning again for her questions on behalf of Union Investment. This concludes the answering of the questions from our institutional investors. We will now move on to the other questions that have come in. Since we've received a broad range of diverse questions, we have grouped them by topic.
Some of the questions have already been answered in Kasper's address or by the answers that were given. This was the case with the question whether the image of adidas in Germany may suffer on diversity and inclusion, on the KfW credit facility, on our strategy in the U.S., and our activities in the areas of esports and sustainability. We will not repeat the answers to those questions. Instead, let's start with a general question to you, Kasper, on corporate citizenship. It reads: A healthy company should be able to pay its rent even in difficult times to avoid causing additional harm to other industries. What position does the Executive Board have on its general responsibility or corporate citizenship in the future?
As has been explained, we revised the decision to demand a respite for the payment of rent for our stores in Germany, and we publicly apologized because we want to assure you, fairness and team spirit have been associated with adidas from the beginning, and we do not want that to change. We are aware of our corporate responsibility for society, and we act accordingly. One example, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our first and foremost goal has been to bring our employees and the company safely through the crisis. We have worked in close collaboration with our suppliers to prevent the cancellation of orders where possible, and even at the first outbreak of the coronavirus, we stepped up safety and health requirements there. This is how we protect our employees and the ones who make our products.
Moreover, Adidas commitment to sustainability started way before the topic gained global attention. This is something that I mentioned in my speech, too. I also informed you about our contribution to projects geared to coping with the COVID-19 health crisis.
Okay.
Thank you. Next, a question on logistics in the context of e-com for you, Kasper. My e-com order was delivered only after a couple of weeks. How is the executive board planning to treat customers in the future? Given that our e-com sales rose by a three-digit percentage figure in parts of the first half of the year, even our state-of-the-art infrastructure was unable to ensure fast deliveries across all markets. Please understand that we are facing an extraordinary situation. It goes without saying that we inform our customers of any delays in shipment. Should an order be delayed by an unusually long time, we apologize to our customers and offer a discount on their next purchase.
Another question to you, Kasper, regarding Reebok. Why do you maintain the brand name of Reebok within the adidas group, although the portfolio of this brand is already borne by products of the adidas brand in all regards? Reebok has a unique and independent brand positioning, which we have sharpened continuously in the framework of our strategic reorientation starting in 2016. The brand's mission is to be the best global fitness brand, it offers consumers technological innovation and classic designs from this specific area.
Thank you. Moving along, two more financing related questions for you, Harm. Seeing as adidas is the second largest sporting goods manufacturer in the world and posted a net profit of just under EUR 2 billion last year, why is it that this company had to rely on the support of the government-owned KfW bank? Secondly, what's the reason for not paying a dividend for the 2019 financial year when the COVID-19 pandemic is only of a temporary nature? Even financially sound companies are facing serious challenges following the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. To safeguard the company's financial leeway at this time of uncertainty, we decided to take out a syndicated KfW loan. The sole purpose of this loan is to enable us to overcome the exceptional situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It goes without saying that we're going to repay any used portions of the loan, including interest and fees, as quickly as possible. The reasons for proposing to this AGM not to pay a dividend have already been addressed in previous answers. Thank you. The next question goes to you, Harm. How high was the dividend which FC Bayern München AG distributed to its shareholder, adidas, during the fiscal year under report? For the fiscal year commencing on the 1st of July 2018 and ending on 30th of June 2019, FC Bayern München AG paid a dividend of EUR 1.25 million to us. Another one to you, Harm, a tax-related question. What rules and regulations are applied when the profits of adidas are taxed? adidas acts as a responsible global taxable entity in all jurisdictions in which the company operates, complying with the applicable tax laws and regulations.
adidas promotes ethical and transparent business practices. Current income taxes are computed in accordance with the applicable taxation rules established in the countries in which adidas operates. adidas AG and its German subsidiaries are subject to domestic corporate income tax and trade tax. In our foreign subsidiaries, the tax rates that are applicable on the balance sheet date, or that have been finally determined, are used to calculate the taxes. Thank you. We have also received further questions on the supervisory board and the annual general meeting. I would ask you, Igor, to answer the first of these two questions. What specific efforts did you make to find a female candidate for the supervisory board vacancy to be filled, and why were these efforts not successful?
In the past years, when there were supervisory board elections, we always specifically searched for suitable female candidates to propose to the annual general meeting of shareholders. The candidate we are proposing to this year's annual general meeting for election to the vacant position on the supervisory board, however, is not a woman. I understand that we will be criticized for that decision. We need to remember that the gender of a person is only one of many criteria in the decision that is to be taken here. The supervisory board is convinced that with Christian Klein, it is proposing the best candidate to the annual general meeting of shareholders, not least because of his proven expertise in the areas of technology and digital transformation, which will be crucial to the future development of adidas.
However, let me emphasize here that diversity and equal participation of women in leadership positions are of paramount importance to adidas. Thank you. The next question goes to you, Kasper. It regards the annual general meeting. In future normal years, will AGMs where shareholders can be physically present, will the company also provide a webcast of the entire meeting for registered shareholders? I can inform you that we have been webcasting our AGM fully for several years now. We will also provide full webcasts via the internet in the future. Beyond that, we want to create the legal preconditions for offering our shareholders the option of attending the AGM electronically in the future, even in normal years, as you put it.
This is why we are proposing to the Annual General Meeting under agenda item 5 to amend the Articles of Association to the effect that shareholders may exercise some or all of their rights electronically, even during a regular Annual General Meeting with physical presence, if the Executive Board allows that. Thank you. Back to you, Kasper, with a question concerning the compensation structure. What is the multiple of Executive Board members' salaries as compared to those of regular and adidas employees? In fiscal 2019, the ratio of the average target direct compensation of regular employees to the average target direct compensation of Executive Board members was 1 to 41.
Next question, also for you, Kasper, on procurement. In which countries are adidas sporting goods such as shoes and apparel manufactured? In 2019, 98% of our shoes were manufactured in Asia. In terms of procurement, the most important country was Vietnam at 43% of the total volume, followed by Indonesia and China at 28% and 16% respectively. In the same year, 91% of our apparel was sourced in Asia. The most important country was Cambodia at 23% of total production, followed by China and Vietnam, both at 19%. Thank you. Let's move on to sustainability, an issue on which we've received a large number of questions that I'd like to put to you, Harm. Let's start by addressing two questions on adidas' reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. What specifically are the planned greenhouse gas reductions for the next five, 10, 15, and 20 years?
Do you also have targets for indirect Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, and if so, what are they? As mentioned before, adidas is committed to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions and those of its suppliers by 30% against 2017 levels by 2020, and to strive to be carbon neutral by 2050. Since 2015, we've had clear targets on energy savings, CO2 reductions, and the efficient use of resources in our supply chain. Our core suppliers, for instance, have lowered their energy consumption by 22% since 2014. In fact, we're helping our suppliers to gradually increase the production and use of renewable sources of energy in our supply chain. One of the things we do to achieve that goal is to put our suppliers in touch with established solar energies companies for them to develop and run joint projects.
In fact, as of 2019, more than 20% of our strategic suppliers also use renewable sources of energy.
Thank you. Next question. When can we expect the results of the review of your climate targets by the Science-Based Targets initiative, and how are you going to react to them? We are committed to submitting our CO2 reduction targets for review by the Science-Based Targets initiative. The targets will be submitted by February 2021. As soon as they are reviewed and approved, we will communicate them and react as appropriate. Next question, do you reevaluate your projects and investments in terms of the climate risk they pose, or are you planning to do that? The identification, evaluation, and documentation of climate-relevant risks is a regular and integral part of our holistic risk management approach. As part of the Carbon Disclosure Project, we regularly and comprehensively report on any climate-related risks and opportunities.
Thank you. How does the executive board ensure full compliance with the requirements imposed by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights? adidas is committed to its corporate social responsibility with regard to the protection of human rights and has subscribed to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights from the very start. At the core of our activities to protect human and labor rights, is our commitment to fair, safe and environmentally sound working conditions and fair wages in the production companies throughout our supply chain. This is why we have developed our workplace standards. To monitor our compliance, adidas employs 70 experts working towards the application of more sustainable business practices throughout our supply chain. In 2019, adidas conducted around 1,200 factory audits.
Through our participation in the Fair Labor Association, we also demonstrate our commitment to independent and unannounced factory inspections and external verification of our programs. In addition, we have established grievance systems that enable workers in supplier factories to raise concerns confidentially with our experts. In 2019, adidas participated once again in the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, analyzing to what degree companies implement human rights due diligence. adidas maintained its leadership position in the 2019 benchmark, coming in first overall across all industries assessed. Thank you. Next question. How do you support your suppliers in meeting social standards? As part of our disclosure mechanism, we report any violations or inadequate preventive action that we identified in 2019 at supplier companies. Our supplier's factories are evaluated with regard to the number of critical compliance violations.
We follow up on all cases of non-compliance and seek to remediate them within a given timeframe. As part of their monitoring effort, our teams identify gaps in policies and procedures related to specific risk areas at the supplier's sites. This is why the numbers shown on page 88 of our annual report, not so much indicate confirmed incidents of non-compliance. Instead, they point to inadequate documentation of company policies and operational procedures, confirming the efficiency of management systems. Thank you. Next question. In a report issued by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, adidas is mentioned as one of 83 companies directly or indirectly benefiting from the use of Uyghur workers outside Xinjiang through potentially abusive labor transfer programs. What is the result or current status of your own Uyghur examinations?
The adidas workplace standards strictly prohibit all forms of forced and prison labor and are applicable to all companies across our supply chain. adidas has never sourced any products from Xinjiang. In addition, we acted on the indications that came in in the spring of 2019 by conducting local audits at yarn suppliers' factories. Although no evidence of forced labor was found, we immediately and explicitly instructed our suppliers not to source any yarn from the Xinjiang region. The company mentioned is not part of the adidas supply chain. For us, forced labor constitutes an exclusion criterion for the collaboration with all suppliers and sub-suppliers.
Thank you. The next question, how has adidas considered sustainability aspects in its products and in its organization, and with how much success? How high is the share of products produced from recycled materials? adidas has been active in the area of sustainability for many years and has adopted a holistic approach that affects all business practices of the group. Kasper already mentioned that we want to use 100% recycled polyester in our products by the year 2024, and that in 2019, 50% of the polyester used for our apparel and footwear collections was already recycled stock. In 2019, we produced more than 11 million pairs of shoes from plastic waste. That's more than double the amount produced the year before. We provide information on the progress achieved with our programs in our annual report and also on our corporate website.
The next question, are there buildings at adidas headquarters designed to protect our climate and the environment? If so, what measures were taken on these buildings? Sustainability is key for adidas AG when it comes to construction measures. To give you an example, the campus expansion concluded in 2019, achieved LEED Gold certification and includes large-scale photovoltaic systems on the rooftops, but also innovative cooling systems with an artificial lake providing cooling energy for one of the buildings. Another structure is currently being erected using sustainable timber construction method that saves over 1,500 tons of CO2. The next question to you, Harm: does adidas support the German and/or the European Supply Chain Act?
In principle, we support uniform standards in the monitoring of supply chains because they create a level playing field as regards competition, and because they help raise and equalize labor and environmental standards in the supply chains across sectors. Such standards should be decided at least at the European level. We should avoid creating a patchwork of different national strategies and requirements in the EU in order not to compromise the functioning of the single market or the competitiveness of companies. We therefore support the project of the federal government during the German Council presidency to develop uniform requirements for the supply chain at the European level. However, no form of statutory due diligence obligations can replace the legal responsibility of nations to protect human rights in the way EU law and international human rights stipulate. Let's move on to the final question on sustainability.
Why is adidas not participating in the International Action, Collaboration, Transformation Initiative to help achieve decent wages by way of a central collective bargaining agreement in the textile industry in Cambodia? We share the goals of the ACT initiative to promote free bargaining processes between the labor unions and the employers' associations, and to establish sectoral collective agreements in the producing countries. With the adidas workplace standards, we oblige our supplier partners to pay the wages that are customary in the industry if they are higher than the statutory minimum wages. Therefore, if the negotiations between the unions, employer associations, the government, and the ACT are successful, we will rigorously implement any wage increases for the employees in supplier factories. However, the decision of the EU to rescind import preferences for products from Cambodia is having an adverse effect on the negotiation process.
It created insecurity about the future competitive situation of the country. In the current circumstances, it is difficult to negotiate wage increases.
Thank you, Harm, and one last time back to you, Kasper. First, a general question on our growth strategy. Are you planning to extend the value of the adidas brand, either organically or inorganically, to include other sports such as cycling? Our strategy does not include significant acquisitions. With adidas and Reebok, we are in the perfect position to enter attractive segments and gain market share. As part of our strategic processes, we regularly evaluate segments and categories, including cycling, in terms of their attractiveness and relevance.
Thank you. The next question goes to you as well, Kasper. On China, where we're asked, Anta Sports is broadening its footprint through takeovers and continues its growth story in China. What strategies are there to maintain the strong position of adidas in China or to improve it?
Thanks to its size and dynamic growth, China is the most important market alongside North America for adidas, and together with Nike, we hold a strong position as market leaders there. As a result, the year 2019 saw double-digit growth again in China, we managed to grow our market share. Our marketing spend is at a level that is hardly viable for smaller competitors. What is more, at our Shanghai site, we opened a new local creation center to offer our Chinese consumers more localized products, which will be another advantage for us going forward.
Thank you. Finally, we have two questions regarding technological innovation in our manufacturing processes. What is the status of 3D-printed performance footwear? Will further efforts be made here in the future? To what extent will technical means such as robots be used soon to bring products to market?
Together with our partner, Carbon, we are manufacturing footwear according to the 4D concept with the help of Digital Light Synthesis. The shoe's midsole is developed using a process that makes the traditional production of molds superfluous and thus makes for greater personalization and production speed. After we produced over 100,000 pairs of these shoes in 2018, we increased the volume in 2019, and the scaling continues. Starting out as an innovative concept series, 4D has developed into a mature footwear technology, which is available in great numbers and in different categories. Product manufacturing continues to be more and more automated. As I explained earlier, our Speedfactories have established a technology for having sports shoes be made almost exclusively by robots. In addition, we're using more and more digital technologies along the entire value chain to provide our customers with innovative products even faster.
Our customers will benefit because we can thus offer greater product diversity with short lead times at a larger scale.
Thank you, Kasper. Thank you Harm, Thomas, and Igor. This concludes the answering of the questions we received. I will hand the floor back to you, Igor. Okay. Thank you, Claudia. Thank you, Thomas, Kasper, and Harm. I would like to thank our shareholders for their numerous questions, and I would like to thank the executive board for its detailed and in-depth answers. I will now take you through the agenda items, and I will make a few remarks before we proceed to the voting and the counting of the ballots. Please bear in mind that you can only vote, appoint proxies, or give voting instructions via the shareholder portal until the counting of the votes begins. The same applies to changing votes you have already cast, proxies appointed, or instructions given.
Today, we are going to vote on the resolutions proposed by the executive and supervisory boards under agenda items 2 to 5, and on the resolutions proposed by the supervisory board under agenda items 6 and 7, as published in the German Federal Gazette on June the 15th, 2020. The wording of the proposed resolutions was published in the notice of the meeting and is available from the website of the company. You can see the agenda items 2 to 7 on the screen now. The company has received one shareholder's countermotion for agenda item 3 to withhold formal ratification of the actions of the executive board. That countermotion concerns the rejection of a proposed resolution. I will therefore not put that request to the vote separately. If you wish to support the countermotion, you must vote no on agenda item 3.
Furthermore, I will abstain from reading the full wording of the resolution proposals. Ladies and gentlemen, we will soon begin with the voting. I point out that under Section 136, paragraph one of the German Stock Corporation Act, or German Aktiengesetz, no member of either the executive board or the supervisory board may exercise any voting rights on his or her own behalf or on behalf of any other person when the resolution on the ratification of his or her actions is passed. For shares which are subject to the exclusion of voting rights under Section 136 of the German Stock Corporation Act, no voting rights may be exercised by a third party either. The voting will be carried out using the addition procedure, which means that we are only going to count the yes votes and the no votes that are actually cast.
Since the abstentions do not change the voting results, they will not be counted. The resolutions on the agenda items 2 through 7 of today's annual general meeting require a simple majority. I have received the register of the nominal capital represented today and of the number of participants who are following today's annual general meeting online. That information is now being shown on the screen. Today, the proxies-- No. 134,967,467 no-par value shares with the same number of votes are represented today, which corresponds to 67.34% of the capital stock. 14,220,706 no-par value shares with the same number of votes are represented via postal vote. This translates into 7.1% of the nominal capital. In total, 149,188,183 no-par value shares with the same number of votes are represented. This is 74.44% of the nominal capital.
At peak times, 583 shareholders followed today's annual general meeting of shareholders online. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the business on the agenda. You now have until 12:20 P.M., 12:20 P.M., to cast or change your votes, appoint proxies, or give voting instructions through the shareholder portal. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now 12:20 P.M. From this moment, you can no longer cast votes, appoint proxies, or give voting instructions. Changes are no longer possible. The engineering team has been instructed to set the system accordingly. I would ask the notary that this be minuted. The proxies designated by the company will now release the votes on the individual agenda items as stored in the system according to the instructions from the shareholders and their representatives. The votes submitted by regular mail are also stored in the system. That concludes the vote. Your votes will now be counted.
The counting of the votes will be supervised by the notary. I will announce the results of the vote as soon as they are available. I expect this to take between 15-20 minutes. I would ask you to bear with us.
That's kind of been 2020 in a nutshell, to have uncomfortable conversations and to deal with uncomfortable things. Also figure out an action plan to make things better. Obviously, the hardest conversations are having with my nieces, and my nephews, and my daughter. Just explaining to them through their innocence what's happening in the world, and that some people don't see the world the way that we do. I have so much hope because of those conversations that they're going to finally get it right. I've grown up in a predominantly white school system from K through 12, and I would lie to you if I said I didn't ever experience racism. My parents always told me, "You can do whatever you want." When I first went to the park, because I was a girl, I got picked last.
The next time I made it my mission, like I was going to be the one picking the team because we were going to win every game.
Does that mean anything?
I don't know. It's understanding the limitations that people put on you when you first walk into the door. I don't know if it was as daunting as it was when I went to Knoxville, or even when I was on my own coming out to California, or even as an African American woman going overseas and seeing the way that the world sees Black women. I think it's just about perspective when people try to put individuals in a box and then get mad at them because they don't fit. Don't get mad at me because I don't fit what you think I am. I'm definitely a vet in basketball, but I love seeing obstacles that people put up and say you can't do something, and trying to break those down.
There's a lot of young kids that are coming in that when I play, that's them playing against me. I try to use that as motivation. I'm going to just keep my eyes on the prize and move the game forward. I have so much hope because we have a generation of young women and men that have grown up with women athletes as role models. What I'm fighting for is the fact that girls that play team sports go on and have successful careers, because everything is a team sport, and there's top CEOs that played team sports. I love to watch my daughter interact with her team, to watch them fight through line drills when they can't hit a free throw at the end of practice. Watch when somebody gets knocked down, see who helps them up.
That's what gives me joy, is because I'm able to see it a second time from another perspective of all the things that I was able to get from basketball, and I just didn't even realize.
Yeah. Come on.
I believe the meaning of life is legacy. For me, it's definitely my kids, and it's definitely just an energy. You either leave something or you take something, and I'd rather leave something. I hope that there are certain things that come to mind when people think of me when I'm no longer here, or no longer a part of the game of basketball, or no longer on Earth, that brings people together. I think legacy is definitely the meaning of life. If you don't have a legacy, then what are you doing?
Xander's got to make things happen, stop trying to let things happen. Three shots back. That's making it happen. Wow. Are you kidding me?
To me, it feels like an all or nothing. You either succeed or you don't. I've golfed my whole life. It's been my focal point in what I do. To have it sort of swiped under my feet, it was a weird feeling, I'd say. I just try to use that time to sort of work on myself and stay mentally sharp. I don't have to be swinging a club to get better at my craft. I think in every sport, everyone's always trying to prove themselves, and in golf, it's like you've been working your whole life just to have the opportunity to play on the big tour. Even though it was the biggest stage, I've already done it my whole life. It's just like hitting balls in the range, kid. All you got to do is be you, and you'll do well because it got you this far.
When I think of a golf community, I think of the one I grew up in. We're all individuals on tour. Yeah, we do root for each other for the most part, but we're opponents. We're trying to beat each other. That's why I love to play golf, or any sport for that matter. The rush of competition, the feeling you get when you need to win something. Once I realized why people are diehard fans, it always just made so much sense to me, because they need something to look forward to. They need that hope to hold onto. They need a sport to motivate them to get through the workday. Just not your family, it's sports.
The first day we came back and the range opened, the green grass, the sun, the clear skies, it just felt right to be on a golf course just doing what we love to do. I'm blessed, I'm fortunate. I'm healthy. I got the same support group around me. It may feel like a new beginning, but to me, this is just an opportunity to really prove myself again from where I left off.
I feel like this has humbled the world to see that the things that you maybe didn't think were important actually are. I miss skating with all my friends, and being out, and hanging out, and meeting up with the guys, pushing around. Life has changed. It was a scary time. I couldn't even see my mom. I always like a challenge, and I like to push myself and see how far I could take it, what I could do, and what I could accomplish. All right . I never thought that I would make it this far with what I've done and with what I do. Especially in a time like this with all the stuff that's going on that's crazy out there, skating is one of the things that helps me stay grounded.
If I'm stressed out about certain things, I just like to go skate and clear my mind. Skating has always been therapeutic for me, and it's just a different world now. It makes you appreciate everything, not just skateboarding.
I think the biggest thing about the Locker Room is you get people from every different background, every different community, every different race, and you get all those people to come together for one common goal. A person that I've known from the Locker Room is my godfather, LaTroy Hawkins. I was trying to decide if I was going to declare after my junior year of college and go to the NFL, and he didn't ask if I was ready for the speed or if I was ready for the sport. He just said, "Are you ready to lead men?" I think what you've seen these last few months with the coronavirus and then with the Black Lives Matter movement, and you've seen the community, black and white, going out and peacefully protesting and coming together for one cause. It gives you hope.
I just want to look back at history after these months and not talk about how negative these few months were, but how positive it was, and how people went out there and accepted the challenge every single day and came out better on the other side. Now it's all about action. It's all about the next step. Everybody in the league is coming together, and guys are talking openly and really listening to each other. That's what's going to happen, is we're going to be back, we'll be playing sports, but at the same time, we're going to be taking action and we're going to be making change in this world so that it's a better place when we leave it.
Well, the All Blacks are a big part of New Zealand and who we are and it might be one of those things the public haven't realized how much they've missed it until it's taken away. I didn't realize how much I'd missed the competitiveness of training and being with a group of competitive guys. You can't beat that face-to-face interaction. My injury back in 2018, there's no doubt I took some lessons from getting through that period. lockdown, in a funny way, reminded me a bit of it.
The night is over for Sam Cane.
I found what helped me was get up and set a routine every day, more or less. We're really fortunate that over 100 years ago, when rugby first started out and the first All Blacks team was assembled. They were a very successful team. In this day and age, when you come in, there's this sense of responsibility and legacy to try and uphold. Putting on a jersey and thinking, "This isn't mine. I'm just taking care of it for the next 80 minutes," is a pretty powerful thing. Only about eight years as an All Black, and even split four of them, Richie was captain in four of them, Kieran was captain. Look, I learned so much off both those men. Haven't been named captain yet, just really excited to want to get stuck into it, and it's certainly strange not knowing when that will be.
We just have to be adaptable because things change very quickly. When they change and turn in our favor, just make sure that we're ready.
How long do we have to wait for something we want? For me, patience was our strongest weapon. We train to always be patient. Especially when our patience is tested. Petit was patient for 30 years. I know they are ready to wait much longer than that. Patience is the test of a man. Wait.
We are not robots. We have emotions, feelings, and it's okay to show it. Even if you are in a tough moment, tough moments never last. You just have to go through and stay strong. I've tried hard to have a positive mindset because in general, I feel like I always have it, but the people just see those two hours on the tennis court where we are super focused and super serious. We're there to win because we put so much energy and concentration for the tennis that outside I feel like I need to, yeah, just to change, to do something, explore different things. Finding the balance, that's the key, I would say. That's why I love dancing, cooking, doing normal things, spending time with my friends. Finding that balance has only made me stronger. I love big courts. I love big crowds.
That's what makes me have butterflies in my stomach. That's what makes me nervous, going out there in front of thousands of people that are coming to watch you play, and I just love it.
Estar lejos de las canchas me hizo pensar. Como cualquier otro jugador, solo quiero volver a jugar. Jugar es un premio. Con la gente que siga, es más lindo todavía. Inspirar a otros y que otros nos inspiren. Quizás la copa más importante de todas es traer felicidad a todos. Ahora que volvió el fútbol, estoy listo para ir por esa copa de nuevo.
It just seems like our general emotions of life, the whole rollercoaster has been sort of condensed a little bit more. It's kind of hard to know how you're gonna feel waking up. There's multiple layers to returning back to competitions because I haven't raced since my dad's accident. I think the next time I get in the start gate, in a lot of ways, it'll feel like the first time ever, but I hope that racing still feels as special as it always has. I hope it still feels like I'm doing what I set out to do when I was a little girl and doing the thing that I grew up learning to love because I did it with my family. I don't really wanna move forward. What I found with skiing is that it's always been an outlet for me.
When I'm able to race again, it's gonna be an escape from facing a reality that I and my family don't wanna face. I'd say I'm excited, a little bit nervous, but yeah, I mean, kind of the world's a different place now than it was a month, two months ago, for sure.
One more sounds like nothing, but it is always the hardest one to do.
You have to psych yourself into it.
自分の強くなるためのもう一回なので。
The willingness to go just-
My Ladies and gentlemen, I now have the results of the votes. I will announce the results of the vote on the resolutions proposed under agenda items two through seven. Let me point out here that this annual general meeting of shareholders will end immediately after the results of the vote on the proposed resolutions have been announced. After that, you will no longer be able to lodge objections to any resolutions passed by the annual general meeting through the shareholder portal. I will now announce the results of the vote on the resolutions proposed. In a minute, we will show the number of yes votes and no votes on the individual agenda items on the screen.
This AGM has just voted on the resolutions proposed by the executive board and the supervisory board or by the supervisory board only, as published in the Federal Gazette on the 15th of June 2020. As regards agenda item 2, the resolution proposal has been approved with the required majority. As regards agenda item 3, the resolution proposal has been approved with the required majority. As regards agenda item 4, the resolution proposal has been approved with the required majority. The executive board and the supervisory board would like to thank you for this vote of confidence. As regards agenda item 5, the resolution proposal has been approved with the required majority. As regards agenda item 6, the resolution proposal has been approved with the required majority, and Mr. Christian Klein has been elected to the supervisory board of adidas AG as shareholder representative.
As regards agenda item seven, the resolution proposal has been approved with the required majority. We will publish the results of the voting on the company's website after the annual general meeting. This concludes the business of the 2020 annual general meeting of shareholders of adidas AG. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you for following this meeting and for your questions. I would like to extend my thanks to everyone involved in facilitating the smooth running of this first virtual annual general meeting. In conclusion, I would like to inform you that the next regular annual general meeting of adidas AG, which will be chaired by my successor, Thomas Rabe, will take place on May the 12th, 2021. With that, I close the annual general meeting of shareholders. Goodbye and see you next time. Stay safe