Anta Sports controls Wilson and Louisville Slugger brands

The ownership transition began with Louisville Slugger, which was historically operated by the Hillerich & Bradsby Company. In 2015, the family-owned business sold to Wilson. At the time of the sale, CEO John A. Hillerich IV stated that the company faced pressure from larger multinational competitors with greater resources. Wilson itself had a complex history; it was sold to Amer Sports, a Finnish multinational, in 1989. In 2018, Amer Sports was acquired by Anta Sports, thereby placing both Wilson and Louisville Slugger under Anta's control.

Anta Sports, founded in 1991, has grown to become the third-largest athletic company globally, trailing only Nike and Adidas. The source describes Anta's expansion strategy as involving the outsourcing of production from Western brands to take advantage of lower manufacturing costs in China. According to a BBC report cited in the source, Anta utilized design and development techniques borrowed from Western companies to compete effectively. This strategy allowed Anta to outsell Nike in its home market and expand into international locations such as Los Angeles.

The relationship between Anta and the Chinese government is characterized in the source as deeply integrated. In 2019, Anta suspended contract negotiations with the NBA after Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey retweeted support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Furthermore, in 2021, Anta's owner announced a donation of $1.2 billion worth of shares to a charity described as being intimately connected to the CCP. A Forbes report from that period noted that Anta and Li-Ning would likely remain loyal to the CCP's understanding of human rights, given their reliance on domestic revenues.

The source frames this corporate shift as a consequence of earlier cost-cutting decisions by Western companies that outsourced production to China. It argues that this trend has led to the replacement of American brands by Chinese competitors who copied their designs and methodologies. The article notes that Nike has seen its share price collapse and suggests that smaller family businesses lack the resources to compete with well-funded multinational corporations that are increasingly absorbed by Chinese entities. While Anta may currently allow Wilson and Louisville Slugger to operate as they did previously, the source questions the longevity of this arrangement and raises concerns about the influence of foreign ownership on American sports traditions.