Nike Inc. Overview

Nike Inc. is an American international company that is to say busy in the design, development, production, and general shopping and businesses of shoe, clothing, equipment, appurtenances, and duties. The association is headquartered familiar Beaverton, Oregon, in the Portland capital. It is the planet’s largest temporary of agile footwear and covering and a important maker of sports equipment, accompanying profit in addition US$37.4 billion in allure financial year 2020 (conclusion May 31, 2020. As of 2020, it employed 76,700 folk general. In 2020 the brand unique was costly in addition $32 billion, making it ultimate valuable brand between sports businesses. Previously, in 2017, the Nike brand was treasured at $29.6 billion. Nike ordered 89th in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the best United States partnerships by total profit.

The association was organized on January 25, 1964, as “Blue Ribbon Sports”, by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, and officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1971. The company takes allure name from Nike, the Greek god of victory. Nike markets allure produce under allure own brand, in addition to Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan, Nike Blazers, Air Force 1, Nike Dunk, Air Max, Foamposite, Nike Skateboarding, Nike CR7, and something added containing Jordan Brand and Converse. Nike further possessed Bauer Hockey from 1995 to 2008, and used Cole Haan, Umbro, and Hurley International. In addition to manufacturing sportswear and supplies, the company use retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many important professionals and sports groups around the world, accompanying the well acknowledged trademarks of “Just Do It” and the Swoosh emblem.

Nike, initially famous as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), was organized by University of Oregon path professional Phil Knight and welcome coach, Bill Bowerman, on January 25, 1964. The party originally conducted in Eugene, Oregon as a wholesaler for Japanese footwear creator Onitsuka Tiger, making concerning business at path meets out of Knight’s car. According to Otis Davis, a University of Oregon scholar-jock instructed by Bowerman an Olympic gold medalist at the 1960 Summer Olympics, his coach fashioned the first pair of Nike footwear for him, denying a claim that they were created for Phil Knight. According to Davis, “I told Tom Brokaw that I was the first. I don’t care what all the billionaires suggest. Bill Bowerman fashioned the first pair of footwear for me. People don’t trust me. In fact, I didn’t like the way they felt on my feet. There was no support and they were excessively tight. But I saw Bowerman created them from the waffle iron, and they were mine. In its first period in trade, BRS sold 1,300 pairs of Japanese running footwear earning $8,000. By 1965, transactions had attained $20,000. In 1966, BRS opened its first general store at 3107 Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. In 1967, on account of growing demand, BRS extended sell and dispersion movements on the orient Coast, in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

By 1971, the connection between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger cease. BRS prepared to initiate its own line of shoe, that was rebranded as Nike, and would bear the Swoosh recently created by Carolyn Davidson. The Swoosh was first used by Nike on June 18, 1971, and was recorded with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 22, 1974. In 1976, the association employed John Brown and Partners, located in Seattle, as its first broadcasting agency. The following year, the agency established the first “brand ad” for Nike, named “There is no finish line”, at which point no Nike merchandise was presented. By 1980, Nike had achieved a 50% market share in the U.S. athletic shoe market, and the enterprise went public in December of that year.

Wieden+Kennedy, Nike’s basic ad agency, has worked alongside Nike to constitute many print and video advertisements, and Wieden+Kennedy remains Nike’s leading ad agency. It was agency co-founder Dan Wieden who invented the now-legendary motto “Just Do It” for a 1988 Nike advertising blitz, that was preferred by Advertising Age as one of the top five ad mottos of the 20th century and enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution. Walt Stack was featured in Nike’s first “Just Do It” commercial, that debuted on July 1, 1988. Wieden credits the idea for the motto to “Let’s do it”, the last words uttered by Gary Gilmore before he was executed. Throughout the 1980s, Nike extended its product line to include many sports and domains throughout the globe. In 1990, Nike relocated into its eight-construction World Headquarters square in Beaverton, Oregon. The first Nike general store, named Niketown, opened in downtown Portland in November of that year.

Phil Knight declared in mid-2015 that he would resign as chairman of Nike in 2016. He properly stepped down from all assignments accompanying the company on June 30, 2016.

In a company public statement on March 15, 2018, Nike CEO Mark Parker said Trevor Edwards, a top Nike executive who was visualized as a potential heir to the chief executive, was relinquishing his position as Nike’s brand leader and would retire in August.

In October 2019, John Donahoe was reported as the next CEO, and succeeded Parker on January 13, 2020. In November 2019, the enterprise interrupted sale directly through Amazon, concentrating more on direct connections with clients.

On June 24, 2021, during an earnings call with financiers, CEO John Donahoe declared that “Nike is a brand that is of China and for China”, in reaction to a question about competing against Chinese brands.

Nike has acquired and sold various apparel and footwear businesses over the course of its record. Its first procurement was the fashionable footwear business Cole Haan in 1988, trailed by the purchase of Bauer Hockey in 1994. In 2002, Nike purchased surf apparel company Hurley International from founder Bob Hurley. In 2003, Nike compensated US$309 million to gain footwear company Converse. The company acquired Starter in 2004 and soccer uniform manufacturer Umbro in 2007. In order to refocus its business lines, Nike began divesting itself of some of its subsidiaries in the 2000s. It sold Starter in 2007 and Bauer Hockey in 2008. The company sold Umbro in 2012 and Cole Haan in 2013. As of 2020, Nike owns only one subsidiary: Converse Inc.

Nike acquired Zodiac, a consumer data analytics association, in March 2018. In August 2019, the company acquired Celect, a Boston-located predictive analytics company. In December 2021, Nike obtained RTFKT Studios, a virtual footwear company that create NFTs. In February 2021, Nike acquired Datalogue, a New York located company concentrated on digital marketing and machine learning technology.

Nike was made a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2013, when it replaced Alcoa. On December 19, 2013, Nike’s periodically profit rose due to a 13 percent increase in worldwide orders for merchandise since April of that year. Future orders of footwear or apparel for delivery between December and April, rose to $10.4 billion. Nike shares (NKE) rose 0.6 percent to $78.75 in extended trading. In November 2015, Nike disclosed it would introduce a $12 billion share buyback, in addition to a two-for-one stock split, with shares to start trading at the depreciated price on December 24. The split will be the seventh in company history.

In June 2018, Nike declared it would introduce a $15 billion share buyback over four years, to start in 2019 upon accomplishment of the former buyback program.

For the calendar year 2018, Nike stated return of US$1.933 billion, with annual revenue of US$36.397 billion, an increase of 6.0% over the former fiscal cycle. Nike’s shares traded at over $72 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$114.5 billion in October 2018.In March 2020, Nike recorded a 5% drop in Chinese sales associated with stores’ closure on account of the COVID-19 surge. It was the first decrease in six years. At the same time, the company’s online marketing grew by 36% during Q1 of 2020. Also, the sales of personal training apps grew by 80% in China.

Nike produces a broad range of sports supplies and apparel. Their first produce were track running footwear. Nike Air Max is a line of shoes first issued by Nike, Inc. in 1987. Additional merchandise lines were brought in later, such as Air Huarache, which debuted in 1992. The most current additions to their line are the Nike 6.0, Nike NYX, and Nike SB footwear, designed for skateboarding. Nike has currently brought in cricket footwear called Air Zoom Yorker, created to be 30% lighter than their competitors’. In 2008, Nike introduced the Air Jordan XX3, a high-performance basketball shoe devised with the surroundings in mind.

Nike’s range of commodity include footwear, jerseys, shorts, cleats, base layers, etc. for sports exercises such as association football, basketball, track and field, combat sports, tennis, American football, athletics, golf, ice hockey, and cross training for men, women, and children. Nike likewise sells footwear for activities such as skateboarding, baseball, cycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, lacrosse, cricket, aquatic exercises, auto racing, and other athletic and recreational uses. Nike currently teamed up alongside Apple Inc. to produce the Nike+ product that monitors a runner’s performance by way of a radio device in the shoe that links to the iPod nano. While the merchandise generates valuable statistics, it has been criticized by researchers who were able to recognize consumers’ RFID devices from 60 feet (18 m) away utilizing small, concealable intelligence motes in a Wi-Fi sensor network.

In 2004, Nike launched the SPARQ Training Program/Division. Some of Nike’s freshest footwear contain Flywire and Lunarlite Foam to reduce weight. The Air Zoom Vomero footwear, introduced in 2006 and now in its 11th generation, featured a merger of groundbreaking modernizations including a full-length air padded sole, an outside heel counter, a crash pad in the heel for shock absorption, and Fit Frame technology for a stable fit.

The Nike Vaporfly first got out in 2017 and their recognition, in addition to its performance, incited a new series of running footwear. The Vaporfly succession has a new technological composition that has transformed long-distance running since studies have proved that these footwear can improve run times up to 4.2%.. The composition of the sole holds a foamy material, Pebax, that Nike has updated and now calls it ZoomX (that can exist different Nike merchandise also). Pebax foam can also be found in airplane insulation and is “squishier, bouncier, and lighter” than foams in typical running footwear. In the middle of the ZoomX foam there is a entire carbon fiber plate “created to generate extra spring in every step. At the time concerning this writing Nike had just issued its most recent product from the Vaporfly line, the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%, that was advertised as “the fastest footwear we’ve ever created” utilizing Nike’s “two most innovative technologies, Nike ZoomX foam and VaporWeave material”.

The Nike brand, with its apparent V-shaped logo, fast became viewed as a status symbol in modern urban fashion and hip-hop fashion on account of its union with success in sport. Beginning in the 1980s, various items of Nike attire became staples of prevailing American youth fashion, especially tracksuits, shell suits, baseball caps, Air Jordans, Air Force 1’s, and Air Max running footwear with dense, air padded rubber soles and contrasting blue, yellow, green, white, or red trim. Limited version sneakers and prototypes with a territorial early release were known as Quickstrikes and became extremely desirable items for adolescent members of the sneakerhead subculture. By the 1990s and 2000s, American and European teenagers associated with the preppy or popular clan started combining these footwears, leggings, sweatpants, crop tops, and tracksuits with regular casual chic street apparel like jeans, skirts, leg warmers, slouch socks, and bomber jackets. Particularly popular were the unisex spandex Nike Tempo compression shorts used for cycling and running, that had a mesh lining, waterproofing, and, later in the 2000s, a zip pocket for a Walkman or MP3 player.

From the late 2000s into the 2010s, Nike Elite basketball socks began to be used as everyday apparel by hip-hop fans and young children. Originally plain white or black, these socks had distinctive shock absorbing cushioning in the sole plus a dampness wicking upper weave. Later, Nike Elite socks became available in bright colors stimulated by throwback basketball uniforms, frequently with divergent bold abstract designs, images of superstars, and freehand digital print to capitalise upon the arising yearning for 1990s fashion.In 2015, a new self-lacing footwear was brought in. Called the Nike Mag, which are replicas of the footwear featured in Back to the Future Part II, it had a preliminary limited release, only available by auction with all proceeds going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation. This was done again in 2016. Nike have introduced a premium line, concentrated more on streetwear than sports wear named NikeLab.In March 2017, Nike disclosed its launch of a plus-size clothing line, that will feature new sizes 1X through 3X on more than 200 commodity. Another meaningful development at this time was the Chuck Taylor All-Star Modern, an update of the classic basketball footwear that included the circular knit upper and padded foam sole of Nike’s Air Jordans.

On July 23, 2019, a pair of Nike Inc. running footwear sold for $437,500 at a Sotheby’s sell-off. The so-called “Moon Shoes” were created by Nike co-founder and track coach Bill Bowerman for runners engaging in the 1972 Olympics trials. The patron was Miles Nadal, a Canadian financier and automobile collector, who had just paid $850,000 for a group of 99 rare of limited collection pairs of sport footwear. The purchase price was the highest for one pair of sneakers, the earlier record being $190,373 in 2017 for a pair of signed Converse footwear in California, said to have been used by Michael Jordan during the 1984 basketball final of the Olympics that time.

Nike’s world headquarters are among the city of Beaverton but are inside unincorporated Washington County. The city tried to forcibly annex Nike’s main office, that led to a lawsuit by Nike, and lobbying by the company that ultimately ended in Oregon Senate Bill 887 of 2005. Under that bill’s conditions, Beaverton is specifically barred from forcibly annexing the land that Nike and Columbia Sportswear reside in Washington County for 35 years, while Electro Scientific Industries and Tektronix receive the same protection for 30 years. Nike is planning to build a 3.2 million square foot expansion to its World Headquarters in Beaverton. The design will target LEED Platinum certification and will be highlighted by natural daylight, and a gray water treatment center.

Nike has contracted with more than 700 shops around the world and has centers situated in 45 nations outside the United States. Most of the industries are situated in Asia, including Indonesia, China, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Philippines, and Malaysia. Nike is hesitant to reveal information about the contract associations it works with. However, owing to harsh criticism from few institutions like CorpWatch, Nike has revealed information about its contract factories in its Corporate Governance Report.

In the 1990s, Nike received criticism for its use of sweatshops. Later on that period, many protests occurred in big cities such as in Washington, DC and Boston in order to show public exclamation for Nikes use of child labor and sweatshops. Nike has been criticized for contracting with workshops (known as Nike sweatshops) in nations such as China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico. Vietnam Labor Watch, an activist group, has recorded that factories contracted by Nike have violated minimum wage and overtime laws in Vietnam as late as 1996, even though Nike claims that this practice has been stopped. The company has been subject to much critical coverage of the frequently poor working conditions and exploitation of cheap overseas labor employed in the free trade zones where their merchandise are usually manufactured. Sources for this criticism include Naomi Klein’s book No Logo and Michael Moore documentaries.

Campaigns have been taken up by many colleges and academies, especially anti-globalization groups, as well as several anti-sweatshop groups such as the United Students Against Sweatshops.

As of July 2011, Nike stated that two-thirds of its workshops producing Converse merchandise still do not meet the company’s standards for employee management. A July 2011 Associated Press article stated that workers at the company’s plants in Indonesia expressed constant abuse from supervisors.

On March 29, 2021, American rapper Lil Nas X partnered with New York-located art collective MSCHF to release a modified pair of Nike Air Max 97s named Satan Shoes.[137] The footwear are black and red with a bronze pentagram, displaying the Bible verse Luke 10:18 and are filled with “60cc and 1 drop of human blood.” Only 666 pair were designed and were sold at a price of $1,018. Nike soon iterated that they were uncommitted in the invention and promotion of the footwear and did not support the notes of Lil Nas X or MSCHF. Nike filed a trademark lawsuit against MSCHF with the New York federal Court, in an effort to stop the allocation of the footwear. On April 1, a federal judge ordered a temporary restraining order blocking the trade and distribution of the footwear pending a preliminary injunction.

Nike sponsors top athletes in many sports to use their merchandise and promote and endorse their technology and design. Nike’s first professional athlete endorser was Romanian tennis athlete Ilie Năstase. The first track endorser was distance runner Steve Prefontaine. Prefontaine was the prized pupil of the company’s co-founder, Bill Bowerman, while he coached at the University of Oregon. Today, the Steve Prefontaine Building is named in his honor at Nike’s main office. Nike has only fashioned one statue of its sponsored athletes and it is of Steve Prefontaine. Nike has also helped many different successful track and field athletes over the years, such as Sebastian Coe, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Michael Johnson and Allyson Felix. The signing of basketball player Michael Jordan in 1984, with his subsequent promotion of Nike over the course of his career, with Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon, confirmed to be one of the substantial boosts to Nike’s publicity and marketing.

Nike is a major sponsor of the athletic programs at Penn State University and named its first child care facility after Joe Paterno when it opened in 1990 at the enterprise’s main office. Nike initially disclosed it would not eliminate Paterno’s name from the building in the wake of the Penn State sex abuse scandal. After the Freeh Report was released on July 12, 2012, Nike CEO Mark Parker announced the name Joe Paterno would be removed immediately from the child development center. A new name has yet to be announced.

In the early 1990s Nike made a powerful push into the association football business making endorsement deals with legendary and charismatic players such as Romário, Eric Cantona or Edgar Davids. They continued the growth in the sport by signing more top players including: Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Francesco Totti, Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba, Andrés Iniesta, Wayne Rooney and still have many of the sport’s largest superstars under their name, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Neymar, Harry Kane, Eden Hazard and Kylian Mbappé among others. Nike has been the official ball supplier for the Premier League since the 2000–01 season.

Nike still has many of the top teams playing in their costumes, including: FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool (the latter from the 2020–21 season), and the national teams of Brazil, France, England, Portugal and the Netherlands among many others.

Nike has been the sponsor for many top ranked tennis performers. Brand’s commercial success in the sport went hand in hand with the endorsement deals signed with the grown and the world’s most charismatic celebrities and number one ranked athletes of the subsequent eras, including John McEnroe in the 1980s, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in the 1990s and Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova with the start of the 21st century.

Nike has sponsored Tiger Woods for much of his career, and remained on his side amid the controversies that shaped the golfer’s career.[185] In January 2013, Nike signed Rory McIlroy, the then No 1 golfer in the world to a 10-year sponsorship deal worth $250 million. The deal includes utilizing Nike’s range of golf clubs, a move Nick Faldo earlier described as “hazardous” for McIlroy’s game.

Nike was the official kit sponsor for the Indian cricket team from 2005 to 2020. On February 21, 2013, Nike announced it suspended its contract with South African limbless player Oscar Pistorius, due to his being charged with premeditated murder.

Nike consolidated its position in basketball in 2015 when it was disclosed that the company would sign an 8-year deal with the NBA, taking over from the league’s former uniform sponsor, Adidas. The deal required all franchise team members to wear jerseys and shorts with the Swoosh emblem, beginning with the 2017/18 season. After the success of alliance with Jordan, that resulted in the creation of the unique Air Jordan brand, Nike has continued to build alliance with the biggest names in basketball. LeBron James was given the Slogan “We are All Witnesses” when he signed with Nike. Similar to “Air Jordan”, LeBron’s brand became massively popular. The motto was an extremely accurate way to express the situation LeBron was heading into in the NBA he was expected to be the new emperor of the NBA. Some have had signature footwear designed for them, including Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and more recently LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Paul George, among others.

A news report originating from CNN reported that Nike spent $11.5 billion, almost a third of its sales, on marketing and endorsement contracts in the year 2018. Nike and its Jordan brand sponsored 85 men’s and women’s basketball teams in the NCAA tournament.