Reebok owner Authentic Brands Group could IPO in 12 months
The founder of Authentic Brands Group, the management firm behind dozens of retail and media names including Reebok, Champion and Brooks Brothers, said in an earlier announcement that he expects to take the company public within the next 12 months. Wynn Resorts The CEO will be its next executive chairman.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen, Jamie Salter said Authentic’s president, Matt Maddox, who joined the firm as president in January 2025 after a 20-year career at Wynn, will take over as CEO so Salter can transition to executive chairman.
When asked if this meant the company was heading for an initial public offering, Salter said he expected the company to go public “within the next 12 months.”
“There is no doubt that Matt is an absolutely fantastic Wall Street CEO,” Salter said. “We’ve gone public almost twice, filed twice, and both times we were acquired by other private equity firms at much higher prices. I think this time the company has grown so much that I think we’ll probably go public this time within the next 12 months.”
Salter said the transition was necessary as he works to grow Authentic into a $100 billion company within the next five years and that he must spend “100% of my time” focusing on mergers and acquisitions, which have long been the lifeblood of his business.
Salter will remain “deeply involved in the business” in his new role but will focus on long-term strategy, Authentic said in a news release. Maddox will oversee day-to-day operations with a mandate to scale the business, drive organic growth and create value for the firm’s “shareholders and partners.”
In a statement, Maddox added that “the opportunity before us is significant, and we are just getting started.”
(L-R) Jamie Salter and Matt Maddox attended the Michael Rubin REFORM Alliance Casino Night Event on September 13, 2025 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Arthur Holmes | Getty Images
Authentic generates approximately $38 billion in revenue from retail sales systemwide and has become a major force in the retail industry; It is known for purchasing the intellectual property behind popular brands that are distressed or bankrupt and licensing that intellectual property for lucrative royalties.
Its portfolio includes more than 50 brands, including Sports Illustrated, Guess and Juicy Couture, and it has partnered with notable names such as Shaquille O’Neal, David Beckham and Kevin Hart.
Authentic has focused almost exclusively on apparel retailers for years, but Salter said these days it’s looking more at recreational purchases, which are the “driving force” of the business.
“Today, entertainment is roughly 20% of our business, 80% is beauty and lifestyle, but over a period of time, I believe entertainment will be much stronger, going from 20% to 50%,” Salter said. “The reason I want to focus so much on the entertainment business is because it’s clear as day that content drives business.”
Authentic has been signaling for years that it was ready to go public; The last one was in April. Reuters Momentum AI event Salter said the company will attempt another IPO “soon.”
He added that the company plans to hold a leadership position other than CEO when it is ready to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
That moment appears to have arrived with Maddox being appointed CEO and Salter becoming executive chairman.
Salter, who has worked in the consumer and retail space for decades, is an accomplished investor and dealmaker but is less experienced than Maddox when it comes to the skills required to run a public company. During his time at Wynn, which has a market cap of about $10 billion and is traded on Nasdaq, Maddox spent almost 15 years in the C-suite as CFO, president and CEO, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Often when companies are on the verge of going public, they will choose leaders who have deep experience running public companies, especially if those companies are founder-led.
