An April purchase of 27%--since raised to 33%--of the company by French retail conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute caused Puma shares to rise 25% in anticipation of an imminent buyout.
At its apogee in 1998, the system generated over a billion dollars a year in revenue, and accounted for nearly 15% of the annual income for online retailers 3 Suisses and La Redoute, to name a couple.