On Holding AG (ONON): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

How did On Holding AG (ONON), a brand founded in 2010, manage to evolve from a running shoe startup into a global premium sportswear powerhouse that's consistently taking market share from industry giants?

The answer is in the numbers: following a Q3 2025 where net sales hit a record CHF 794.4 million and the gross profit margin reached a staggering 65.7%, the company raised its full-year 2025 net sales guidance to approximately CHF 2.98 billion.

That kind of explosive, high-margin growth isn't just luck; it's the result of a deliberate premium strategy, so you need to understand the core of its business model-from its proprietary CloudTec® cushioning innovation to its unique ownership structure-to see where the next wave of value will be created.

On Holding AG (ONON) History

You're looking for the foundation of On Holding AG, the Swiss performance brand that's been outrunning the competition. The short answer is that the company started with a simple, revolutionary idea for running shoe cushioning, and its trajectory was fundamentally changed by a tennis legend and a massive public offering. It's a classic story of niche innovation going global.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The company was established in 2010, starting in the highly competitive sportswear market with a focus on a unique running sensation.

Original location

On Holding AG was founded and remains headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

Founding team members

The company was co-founded by three individuals, each bringing a critical perspective to the brand's initial vision:

• Olivier Bernhard: A former professional triathlete and three-time world champion who sought to create the perfect running shoe.
• David Allemann: Brought marketing and brand expertise to the team.
• Caspar Coppetti: Provided the strategic and business development acumen.

Initial capital/funding

Specific details on the initial seed capital are not publicly disclosed, but like many startups, the founders relied on initial investments to develop their core technology, the now-famous CloudTec. The concept itself began with Bernhard experimenting with a cut-up garden hose, which is a defintely humble start for a billion-dollar brand.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's growth from a niche Swiss running shoe brand to a global sportswear player wasn't linear; it hinged on a few bold, transformative decisions. You can see the impact in the numbers.

• The Roger Federer Catalyst: His 2019 investment and active role was less a sponsorship and more a strategic partnership. His roughly 3% stake was valued at approximately $500 million as of Q2 2025, which shows the immense brand equity he helped create. This move instantly elevated On Holding AG's perception from a technical running brand to a premium, cross-cultural lifestyle brand.
• The 2021 IPO: Listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was the financial inflection point. The IPO raised significant capital, allowing for the massive scaling of its direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel and global infrastructure. This is how they funded the push into new categories like apparel and tennis.
• Direct-to-Consumer Focus: The strategic shift to prioritize its DTC channel has been crucial for margin expansion. For the full year 2025, the company is guiding for a gross profit margin of around 62.5%, a premium level that's hard to achieve without strong DTC sales. This focus gives them better control over pricing and customer experience, which is vital for a premium brand.
• 2025 Growth Trajectory: The company is not slowing down. As of November 2025, the trailing twelve-month revenue ending September 30, 2025, hit $3.55 billion. For the full year 2025, the company has raised its net sales growth guidance to 34% on a constant currency basis, a clear indicator that the foundational strategy is working.

To be fair, this rapid growth also brings challenges, which is why the company's Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of On Holding AG (ONON) are so important for guiding its future strategy.

On Holding AG (ONON) Ownership Structure

On Holding AG's (ONON) ownership structure is a blend of large institutional capital and significant insider control, which is common for a growth company that went public relatively recently. This dual structure means major strategic decisions are influenced by both the company's founders and the world's largest asset managers, like BlackRock.

On Holding AG's Current Status

On Holding AG is a publicly traded company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol ONON. The company completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in September 2021. As of November 2025, its market capitalization stands at approximately $26.77 billion, reflecting its rapid growth in the premium sportswear market. The company reported strong Q3 2025 results, with net sales reaching CHF 794.4 million (Swiss Francs) and adjusted EBITDA surging nearly 50% year-over-year to CHF 179.9 million.

The stock price as of November 20, 2025, was approximately $41.45 per share. This public status subjects the company to rigorous reporting standards, providing investors with transparency into its governance and financial performance. If you want to dive deeper into who is buying and selling, you can check out Exploring On Holding AG (ONON) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

On Holding AG's Ownership Breakdown

The ownership structure shows a clear concentration of shares among institutional investors, but the founders and insiders still hold a powerful block. This breakdown, based on the most recent filings available in 2025, gives you a clear picture of who holds the voting power.

Institutional investors, holding the largest single slice at 55%, exert considerable influence on the stock price through their trading decisions. But honestly, the 28% held by insiders is the real anchor, ensuring the original vision remains central to the company's strategy. That's a big block of control.

On Holding AG's Leadership

The company operates under a unique partnership model, where the founders remain deeply involved in the strategic and creative direction, while a single CEO manages the day-to-day operations. This structure was streamlined in 2025 to improve operational efficiency.

In a key organizational shift, the company transitioned to a single-CEO structure effective July 1, 2025. Martin Hoffmann, previously Co-CEO and CFO, assumed the role of sole Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and as of November 2025, he is still serving as the CFO while the company searches for a replacement.

• Martin Hoffmann: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He leads the global strategy and scaling of operations.
• Caspar Coppetti: Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman.
• David Allemann: Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman.
• Olivier Bernhard: Co-Founder and Executive Board Member.

The founders, collectively known as the Partners, continue to lead the product organization and drive the future vision, which is defintely a smart way to keep the brand's DNA intact. The management team is also bolstered by recent 2025 appointments, including Katarina Berg as Chief People Officer and Scott Maguire as Chief Innovation Officer, showing a clear focus on talent and product pipeline.

On Holding AG (ONON) Mission and Values

On Holding AG's core purpose goes beyond selling shoes; it's about channeling their Swiss-engineered innovation into a movement to inspire people, with a clear vision to become the most premium global sportswear brand. This mission is the cultural DNA that allows them to command a premium price point, driving their expected full-year 2025 gross profit margin to around 62.5%.

On Holding AG's Core Purpose

You're looking for the engine behind the company's momentum, and honestly, it's the philosophy that dictates their strategy: performance first, but always with a focus on people and the planet. This thinking is why their apparel net sales in Q3 2025 surged to CHF 50.1 million, an 86.9% growth year-over-year, showing the mission translates across product categories.

Official mission statement

The mission is a direct operating manual for product and business development, linking human aspiration with tangible product quality and corporate responsibility. It's simple, but defintely powerful.

• Ignite the human spirit through movement.
• Create high-performance products.
• Deliver with an unwavering commitment to transparency and sustainability.

Vision statement

The vision is a financial and market positioning goal that maps directly to their premium strategy. Being 'premium' means maintaining full-price sales, which directly supports their raised 2025 guidance for reported net sales of approximately CHF 2.98 billion.

• Become the most premium global sportswear brand.
• Maintain superior product technology, like CloudTec® cushioning, to justify premium pricing.
• Drive global expansion; footwear net sales alone hit CHF 731.3 million in Q3 2025.

To be fair, this ambition is why their adjusted EBITDA margin guidance for 2025 is now expected to be above 18%, a clear step-up from previous forecasts.

For a deeper dive into who is betting on this vision, you can read Exploring On Holding AG (ONON) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

On Holding AG slogan/tagline

The company uses taglines that capture the unique feel of their proprietary technology and their aspirational brand ethos.

• Run on Clouds. (Directly referencing their innovative CloudTec® cushioning system)
• Dream On. (Encouraging athletes to push their limits)

Here's the quick math: their core values of innovation and premium positioning are what create a defensible economic moat (a structural business feature that protects profits), allowing them to consistently outperform competitors on margin.

On Holding AG (ONON) How It Works

On Holding AG operates as a premium sportswear brand, primarily designing and distributing high-performance athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories globally. It drives value by merging Swiss-engineered innovation, like its proprietary CloudTec® cushioning, with a potent direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales model to maintain high margins and brand control.

On Holding AG's Product/Service Portfolio

The company's portfolio is built on a foundation of patented technology, rapidly expanding from its running shoe roots into a full-spectrum sportswear brand. The successful launch of new lifestyle models in 2025, like the Cloud 6, has been key to expanding its reach beyond core runners into the broader, affluent athleisure market. This expansion is evidenced by the massive growth in the apparel segment.

On Holding AG's Operational Framework

The operational success of On Holding AG hinges on a hybrid distribution strategy that prioritizes high-margin channels and a streamlined supply chain, even while scaling production. You can see their commitment to their core values here: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of On Holding AG (ONON).

• Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Channel Focus: The DTC channel, which includes e-commerce and flagship stores, is the profit engine. In Q3 2025, DTC net sales reached CHF 314.7 million, representing a 37.5% constant-currency increase year-over-year. This channel provides superior profitability and direct customer feedback.
• Wholesale Channel: This channel maintains brand visibility and market penetration through select, premium retail partners, ensuring the brand's premium positioning isn't diluted.
• Supply Chain and Inventory Management: The company is focused on operational efficiencies, including progressing with a new automated Atlanta logistics facility to improve distribution in the Americas. Inventory management is disciplined; inventory stood at CHF 380.6 million at the end of Q3 2025.
• Product Innovation Cycle: A rapid, iterative design process, leveraging customer data and Swiss engineering, ensures a constant stream of new, high-margin products. This keeps the product line defintely fresh.

On Holding AG's Strategic Advantages

The company's competitive edge isn't just one thing; it's a powerful combination of product moat, premium pricing power, and strategic distribution. This allows them to project net sales to reach CHF 2.98 billion for the full fiscal year 2025, a growth of at least 34% on a constant currency basis.

• Proprietary Technology Moat: The patented CloudTec® cushioning system is a core differentiator, providing a unique performance benefit that is difficult for competitors to replicate without infringement.
• Premium Brand Positioning: On Holding AG has successfully established itself as a premium, high-end brand, allowing for a high gross profit margin outlook of around 62.5% for FY 2025. This pricing power insulates them from some market volatility.
• Apparel and Category Diversification: The successful expansion into apparel, which saw an 86.9% sales increase in Q3 2025, reduces reliance on footwear and builds a more resilient, full-sportswear brand.
• Global Momentum and DTC Dominance: Strong growth in regions like Asia-Pacific, where Q3 2025 sales more than doubled, combined with a high-margin DTC share, fuels scalable and profitable global expansion.

On Holding AG (ONON) How It Makes Money

On Holding AG generates revenue primarily by selling its premium performance athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories through a dual-channel strategy: directly to the consumer (DTC) and through wholesale partners. The core of their financial engine is maintaining a high average selling price (ASP) and a full-price strategy across their global network, which is why their margins are so strong.

On Holding AG's Revenue Breakdown

The company's sales channels are the clearest way to see where the money comes from, and the shift toward Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) is a key profitability driver. Based on the Q3 2025 results, the channel mix shows a heavy reliance on retail partners, but DTC is accelerating faster. Here's the quick math on the split of the CHF 794.4 million in Q3 net sales.

Business Economics

The financial health of On Holding AG hinges on its premium pricing power and the strategic shift toward DTC. To be fair, the Wholesale channel still drives the majority of volume, accounting for 60.4% of Q3 2025 net sales, but the DTC channel-which includes the company's own e-commerce and flagship stores-is where the superior profitability lives.

The company is defintely focused on product diversification, too. While Footwear remains the backbone, making up about 92.0% of Q3 2025 net sales, the Apparel category is a major growth opportunity. Apparel sales surged by over 100% on a constant currency basis in Q3 2025, reaching CHF 50.1 million. This is a small part of the pie, but it's growing at a blistering pace, plus it increases the customer's lifetime value.

• Pricing Strategy: On Holding AG maintains a strict premium, full-price strategy, which is critical for their high gross margins. They avoid the deep discounting that plagues many competitors.
• Gross Margin Driver: The push to grow the DTC channel, which bypasses retailer markups, is directly responsible for the expansion of the company's gross profit margin. This is a simple, high-impact lever.
• Geographic Expansion: The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is an economic engine, delivering triple-digit constant currency growth of 109.2% in Q3 2025, which shows the brand's global potential beyond its established Americas market.

On Holding AG's Financial Performance

The company's 2025 financial guidance, updated in November 2025, shows a business that is not just growing sales but is also converting that growth into higher profitability. They raised their full-year sales forecast to approximately CHF 2.98 billion, representing a growth of 34% year-over-year on a constant currency basis.

Here's what the core financial metrics tell us about the business health:

• Gross Profit Margin: The full-year 2025 guidance was raised to around 62.5%, up from the previous range of 60.5%-61.0%. This is an elite margin in the apparel and footwear industry and reflects their premium brand positioning and DTC success.
• Adjusted EBITDA Margin: The profitability outlook was also lifted, with the full-year 2025 Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin expected to be above 18.0%. This shows a strong operational leverage as sales scale up faster than operating expenses.
• Q3 2025 Net Income: Net income surged by nearly 290% year-over-year to CHF 118.9 million in Q3 2025, illustrating how margin expansion and sales growth flow directly to the bottom line.

What this estimate hides is the potential impact of foreign exchange volatility, which can still pressure reported earnings despite strong underlying demand. Still, the core business is performing exceptionally well. You should check out Breaking Down On Holding AG (ONON) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors for a deeper dive into these metrics.

On Holding AG (ONON) Market Position & Future Outlook

On Holding AG is positioned as the fastest-growing premium athletic brand globally, successfully challenging established giants by dominating the high-margin performance running and athleisure segments. The company's full-year 2025 net sales are projected to reach approximately CHF 2.98 billion, reflecting an expected constant currency growth of 34%, a clear indicator of its accelerating market capture.

This growth is driven by its premium pricing strategy and a highly effective direct-to-consumer (DTC) model, which gives it superior control over brand experience and profitability. The focus now shifts to scaling its successful formula, particularly expanding its apparel and training categories to solidify its position as a full-spectrum athletic lifestyle brand. Exploring On Holding AG (ONON) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Competitive Landscape

In the crucial U.S. performance running market, On Holding AG competes fiercely against established leaders and other fast-growing disruptors. While Nike, Inc. maintains its overall global dominance, the battle for the core running segment is much tighter, with On and Hoka steadily eroding the market share of incumbents.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's outlook is strong, but it is not without the typical risks that accompany a high-growth, premium-priced consumer discretionary company. Management's guidance for a full-year 2025 gross profit margin near 62.5% and an adjusted EBITDA margin above 18.0% shows confidence in managing these factors.

Industry Position

On Holding AG is a premium segment leader, not a mass-market player, which is a critical distinction. Its average price point is defintely higher than most competitors, positioning it for higher gross margins.

• Premium Positioning: The brand's focus on advanced, proprietary technology like CloudTec and Helion superfoam allows it to command a higher average selling price, with an average price of a pair of On running shoes being about 31% pricier than an average running shoe.
• Innovation-Driven Growth: The company consistently introduces products like the Cloudmonster Hyper, which successfully capture market space and resonate with both serious runners and the 'athletic lifestyle' consumer.
• Geographic Momentum: The Americas remain the largest market, but the triple-digit growth in Asia-Pacific is the key driver for future international scaling, indicating successful replication of its premium model abroad.

The global running shoe market is projected to hit $19.5 billion by 2025, and On's strategy is explicitly aimed at capturing the high-growth, premium segment of this market. You need to watch the apparel business closely; if that segment continues to double, it will materially change the company's risk profile and total addressable market much faster than expected.