DICK’S Completes $2.5 Billion Foot Locker Acquisition
The sporting-goods retailer closed the mixed cash-and-stock merger on Sept. 8, 2025, folding Foot Locker’s global store base into a standalone unit.
DICK’S Sporting Goods, Inc. (DKS) completed its acquisition of Foot Locker, Inc. (FL) on Sept. 8, 2025, exchanging about $2.5 billion of mixed cash and stock consideration for the footwear and apparel retailer.
The combined company now operates more than 3,200 stores plus e-commerce and digital businesses across 20 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, with a licensed store presence in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The expanded footprint is intended to strengthen relationships with brand partners through broader global reach.
Under the merger agreement, Foot Locker shareholders could elect either $24.00 in cash or 0.1168 shares of DICK’S common stock for each Foot Locker share, with no minimum or maximum cash or stock cap. The transaction implied an equity value of about $2.4 billion and an enterprise value of about $2.5 billion. The deal was expected to be accretive to earnings per share in the first full fiscal year after close, excluding one-time costs.
DICK’S plans to run Foot Locker as a standalone business unit and keep the Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, WSS, and atmos brands. Executive Chairman Ed Stack will lead the global Foot Locker businesses, with two new presidents for North America and International. Ann Freeman, a former Nike executive, was named President of Foot Locker North America.
In 2024, Foot Locker reported net worldwide sales of $8 billion and operated about 2,400 retail stores across 20 countries. The company had long admired the cultural significance and brand equity Foot Locker and its employees had built.
After close, DICK’S initiated a review of unproductive assets at Foot Locker, including inventory optimization, closures of underperforming stores, and right-sizing of assets that do not fit the go-forward vision. Those actions, together with merger and integration costs and deferred financing amortization on a bridge facility, are expected to produce pre-tax charges of $500 million to $750 million.
As of Nov. 1, 2025, inventories included $1.8 billion for the Foot Locker business. Foot Locker will enter the quarterly comparable-store base beginning in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, when those stores reach their 14th full month of operations after the acquisition.