It was an inspired move on all fronts. Before long the shoes were part of an ensemble on the cover of Elle, the trendsetting French fashion magazine. Today the Adidas logo adorns the feet of a number of National Basketball Association stars and is emblazoned on the uniforms of major college and professional sports teams. S.A. Louis-Dreyfus, one of the world s largest private commodity brokers. His first position brought him to the American Midwest, where he traded grain commodities.
Trading requires very specific technical skills.
After earning his MBA in 1973, Louis-Dreyfus headed for southern Brazil, where he managed his family s soybean and animal feed production plants. But in 1982, ready for a change, he joined IMS International. He was named president and CEO a short time later, and it was then that he first made his mark as a reviver of troubled companies. Cashing in on a bevy of stock options, he thought he might like to retire at age 42. Loaning the firm money to pay off its debt, Louis-Dreyfus went to work recouping his investment.