Nike CEO put sport at center as shares hit lowest since 2013
Riley Gaines linked Hill’s message to Nike’s losses and falling stock; the company’s memo also outlined a wider overhaul and job cuts beginning in 2027.
Riley Gaines posted on Oct. 10 that Nike CEO Elliott Hill said the company had put sport at the center of its work over the past year. She linked that realization to billions in losses and a 12-year stock low, while Nike’s memo describes a broader operating overhaul.
She ended the post with “Remarkable” and linked to a Fox News OutKick column. That column, by OutKick's Matt Calkins, reads Hill's sentence as a mission statement and argues that "Nike chose politics over its core identity, and it's desperately trying to course correct1."
Nike’s Oct. 1 memo announced changes to its operating model, which CEO Elliott Hill said would accelerate the company’s “Sport Offense” and support long-term growth2. Nike shares fell as much as 8.9% intraday and touched their lowest level since September 2013, while the company forecast a high-single-digit revenue decline for the year, according to the Los Angeles Times3.
The paper reported first-quarter revenue of $11.2 billion, down 4% from a year earlier, and a restructuring plan expected to save $2.5 billion over five years3. Hill said the changes would mean fewer roles across Nike, with decisions on affected positions beginning in 2027. Nike calls the overhaul “Pace” and says it is not a new strategy or a reaction to one quarter; its priorities include supply-chain modernization, reorganizing into three geographic regions, a new campus in India and changes to its workforce2.
OutKick columnist Matt Calkins interpreted Hill’s memo as a course correction and cited Nike’s Colin Kaepernick campaign, its “Equality” ad and its 2023 partnership with Dylan Mulvaney1.
Front Office Sports reports that North America revenue rose 2%. Converse revenue fell 28% to $263 million4. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Poonam Goyal said the turnaround may have stalled3.
Calkins wrote that Hill's 860-word memo did not dwell on past campaigns. Calkins reported that Nike's stock closed at $33.87 the day after the memo. He said it had fallen 81% from its closing high. That high was $177.51 in November 2021. He conceded that no single campaign sank it. The Bloomberg report carried by the Los Angeles Times says Nike expects about $1 billion in pretax charges tied to the plan3. Nike told employees that media reports on job impacts are speculative because it does not yet know the number or location of roles2.
Sources
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