Elliott Hill has made his strategy for turning around Nike Inc. very clear in his first five months as chief executive officer: return the sneaker giant to focusing on sports, not fashion.
Nike
Hill has reshaped the company’s organizational chart, overhauled the sports marketing unit and tried to rekindle relationships with key retail customers and pro leagues, including the NFL.
“We lost our obsession with sport,” Hill, who returned to Nike after a long run as one of its top executives, told analysts in December. “Moving forward, we will lead with sport and put the athlete at the center of every decision.”
Investors will get an early read on Hill’s progress when Nike reports earnings on Thursday afternoon. Wall Street isn’t expecting much improvement yet. Analysts project quarterly sales sank 11%, which would be the biggest decline since the depths of Covid five years ago.
The company’s shares have fallen for three straight years. That’s the worst stretch in its history, which went public in 1980. The stock is down about 9% since Hill was announced as CEO in September, bigger than a decline of 1.7% for the S&P 500 Index.
Hill, who officially started in October, refocused Nike back on core sports such as running and basketball. The company had spent the past several years pumping investment into lifestyle products – those worn on the sidewalk, not on the court. That strategy initially boosted growth, but didn’t last, leading to a painful year of job cuts and a CEO change.
“Nike sells a lot of products that are more lifestyle than sport, but the brand’s identity is built off what these products can do for you,” said Simeon Siegel, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. “That has to start and center around sport.”
Nike is also raising its presence in fitness and activewear through a partnership with Skims, the underwear label founded by celebrity Kim Kardashian. The collaboration, announced in February, is expected to release its first line next year.
Adding to Nike’s challenge is widespread uncertainty in the retail industry as brands contend with fallout from President Donald Trump’s escalating trade wars and softening consumer confidence. Several chains have forecast underwhelming outlooks for this year.
Hints about Nike’s sports renewal began to trickle in shortly after Hill was named its next CEO in September. Nike had become reliant on lifestyle franchises such as Air Force 1s, Dunks and Air Jordans. However, they were losing their allure and new product development at headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, had slowed.
The remaining problem, according to Poonam Goyal, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, is that management must still clear out a pile of unwanted inventory. That’s led to heavy discounts and will hurt in the coming months, she said. Analysts don’t expect the company to return to sales growth until 2026.
Executive Chairman Mark Parker, also a former Nike CEO, told employees in a memo announcing Hill’s appointment that the company needed to realign around product creation and helping athletes reach their full potential. Hill followed by telling staff to expect an “unrelenting focus on our athletes.”
Hill immediately began working to secure Nike’s long-term contract extension with the NFL, which had been considering other bidders for the license to make its on-field uniforms. Then senior management told employees that Nike had begun preparing a global push for its outdoor business, which includes hiking gear like trail shoes and fleece jackets.
Meanwhile, a sports reset took shape as Hill restructured his organizational chart. He segmented Nike’s corporate teams by sport across men’s, women’s and kid’s lines and named basketball, soccer and running as some of the most crucial categories.
Hill also shuffled sports marketing, naming Nike veteran Ann Miller executive vice president of the division. The move, he told employees in a memo, would “empower us to deliver more effectively on our commitment to serving athletes.”
In recent months, Nike has signed agreements with the NFL, NBA, WNBA, FC Barcelona and the Brazilian Football Confederation. It did, however, lose out to rival Puma SE as the soccer ball supplier for England’s Premier League, ending a 25-year partnership.
In December, Hill declared his intention to shift investment away from clicky ads that drive e-commerce traffic to its online shop. He told investors that Nike would “reinvest in our brands” and spend more marketing dollars on major sports moments.
That effort materialized in February, when Nike aired its first commercial at the NFL’s Super Bowl in nearly three decades. It starred many of the company’s top women endorsers: sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, gymnast Jordan Chiles and basketball stars Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and A’ja Wilson.
Hill made the rounds in person too. He flew to New Orleans to host a Super Bowl party. At the NBA All-Star weekend in San Francisco, he promoted a new shoe.
Then, shortly after superstar Luka Doncic, who’s sponsored by Nike’s Jordan brand, was traded by the Dallas Mavericks in a shock deal to the Los Angeles Lakers, the company had an ad for that, too. “Full tank. No Mercy,” it said.
