Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted has admitted in an interview with Handelsblatt that Adidas’ revenue in China fell by 35 percent in Q1. In addition to being affected by the pandemic, Rorsted said, “We didn’t understand the local consumers well enough, so we left room for Chinese competitors who do better.”

On the same day, the hashtag “Adidas CEO admits to making mistakes in China” took off, with over 30 million views.

In Q1, Adidas’ revenue was 5.3 billion euros (37 billion yuan), a slight increase of 1 percent, while revenue in Greater China fell by 35 percent. In Q2, the company’s revenue was 5.6 billion euros, up 10.2 percent, while revenue in Greater China fell another 35 percent. It was the fifth consecutive fall. Adidas’s share price has fallen by nearly 44 percent this year.