Ultra-woke sportswear giant Nike, named for the ancient Greek goddess of victory, is running into trouble as it loses global sales, customer loyalty and ground to its rivals, CEO Elliott Hill confirmed Thursday.
Hill said the beleaguered sportswear firm plans to cut more jobs and shake up its global business divisions after the struggling company projected a steep drop in full-year revenue on the back of earlier disappointing results and failure to meet Q1 targets.
China sales alone have plunged 26 percent for the erstwhile industry disruptor turned establishment fixture.
Last month, Nike was ejected from the S&P 100 stock market index of the biggest blue-chip firms in the U.S., as Breitbart News reported, thus ending a nearly 18-year run in the indicator.
In latest news shares of Nike Inc. dipped over after three percent after the market close Thursday following the company’s projected sales miss in the first quarter.
Net income at the Beaverton, Ore.-based company in the first quarter of fiscal 2027 was $712 million, down two percent from $727 million at the same time last year.
The tepid results underscored Nike’s challenges will likely persist for at least several more quarters — especially in China, where sales tumbled 26 percent on a constant-currency basis in the first quarter — adding to investor unease about the pace of Hill’s promised turnaround, Reuters reports.
Its shares fell 8.5 percent in extended trading, as Hill sought to try and find some bright light in the ever darkening financial clouds hanging over the company as its traditional market has been left reeling from some of its marketing efforts.
Signing TikTok personage Dylan Mulvaney to a lucrative endorsement deal to sell Nike’s women’s sports bra and leggings has been just one of them.
Nike also took heat for a shoe release that not only absurdly linked NBA star LeBron James to Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., but also oddly highlighted the place where King was assassinated.
The stumbles all hearken back to the time Nike’s favorability ratings took a 15-point hit when it chose to associate itself with the national-anthem-dissing, perma-kneeling NFL star Colin Kaepernick and its “Let’s Do It” campaign.
Even President Donald Trump was moved to comment.
Specifically, to fans who believe Colin Kaepernick has disrespected law enforcement, the military, the flag, anthem, and just about everything that makes America great, the link was too much.
They have been walking – and running – away from the once legendary brand ever since.
Clearly the company must do better, as Hill acknowledged.
He said on a post-earnings call per the Reuters report, “Our Nike performance business is not yet large enough to offset the pressure we’re seeing in Nike sportswear, Jordan brand, and Greater China.”
Reviving those weak areas of Nike’s business “will take time,” he said, pointing to a deliberate reduction in the volume of Jordan retro launches.