Under Armour shakeup: Kevin Plank returns as CEO

Under Armour (UA, UAA) announced founder Kevin Plank is returning to the company as CEO effective April 1. He replaces Stephanie Linnartz, who will be stepping down and leaving the company board. Mohamed El-Erian, who has been a lead director of the board, will now become its non-executive chair.

Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman, Josh Lipton, and Brian Sozzi discuss the breaking details.

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Editor's note: This article was written by Stephanie Mikulich

Video Transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

JULIE HYMAN: Breaking news, Kevin Blank is coming back to Under Armour as its CEO, replacing Stephanie Linnartz as head of the company. The company also announcing that Mohamed El-Erian, who has been on the board of directors for the last several years, will become chairman of the board.

Now, this is a surprise. Stephanie Linnartz had only been in that role since February of last year. So, call it 13 months that she held that position here, with Kevin now coming back to take the helm of that company. And I know you've been looking into how the stock has been doing. Obviously, right now, it's going higher. But it's been kind of a rocky road for Under Armour.

JOSH LIPTON: Yeah, I mean, if you look at the stock, really, it's done a whole bunch of nothing year to date and over the past 12 months. You can see at least the initial reaction here in the after-hours is interesting with a pop. Of course, Plank founded this company in 1996.

Just looking through the release, he goes on to talk about his tenure there, how he says the opportunities ahead, what he's willing to capitalize. Says for nearly 30 years, the company has been focused on inspiring athletes. Talks about industry leading performance solutions and says he looks forward to seizing the opportunities ahead.

Investors have not been excited about this name. If you look at the Street and how they feel about it, even after that underperformance, most are on the sidelines, about 60% still with a hold even after that kind of underperformance. But maybe this changes things with Plank coming back on board.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, I mean, again, it's just sort of shocking. I mean, Stephanie had been at Marriott International for many years before she was hired away to run Under Armour. So it'll be interesting to see if she has a next chapter in corporate America as well. But Kevin Plank, it'll be very fascinating to see what changes he puts in place, if any, to try to reinvigorate Under Armour, which has been in the works for a few years now.

JOSH LIPTON: Stock up about 6% right now in the after-hours.