American sportswear company with its origins on the running tracks of Oregon in the 1960s. It has struggled in recent years following the departure in 2020 of Mark Parker, its long-serving chief executive.
Chinese sportswear firms Li Ning and Anta are gaining market share globally, threatening Nike and Adidas. More broadly, Chinese brands dominate the smartphone market in Africa and South-East Asia.
In October 2024 Elliott Hill became chief executive. He began his career as an intern at the firm. His diagnosis was that Nike had lost its obsession with sport; refocusing on athletes is at the heart of his turnaround strategy. On his first day he told staff that Nike was both "a sports company" and "a growth company".
Nike is on its second flat-footed boss since Mark Parker's departure in 2020 after a tremendous run from 2006. Spencer Stuart, an executive-search firm, studied marathoner-CEO succession in the S&P 500 between 2000 and 2024 and found that 66% of internal hires generated lower total returns than their predecessors, relative to the market.
economist, n: Someone who's good with figures, but doesn't have enough personality to become an accountant.