Nike

Blue Ribbon Sports, Nike’s predecessor, was formed in 1964. Phil Knight, a former University of Oregon runner, and Oregon track and field coach Bill Bowerman each put in $500; Knight had obtained West Coast distribution rights for Tiger brand running shoes from a Japanese shoe company.⁠[1]

NIKE, Inc. was incorporated in 1967 under the laws of the State of Oregon.⁠[2]

In 1971 Carolyn Davidson created the Swoosh logo for $35. The Nike name honors the Greek goddess of victory.⁠[3]

In 1971 Bill Bowerman used a waffle iron to experiment with soles that could grip Oregon’s new track, when the company was still known as Blue Ribbon Sports. The following summer he and Geoff Hollister made Moon Shoe prototypes for the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene. The Waffle Trainer, released in 1975, became what Nike calls its “first blockbuster success.”⁠[4]

In 1978 Blue Ribbon Sports officially changed its name to Nike, Inc.⁠[1]

Nike went public on Dec. 2, 1980. As of late 2025 it had carried out seven 2-for-1 stock splits since then, giving it a split-adjusted IPO price of $0.18 per share.⁠[5]

In 1984 Nike signed Michael Jordan to a five-year endorsement deal.⁠[3]

Nike’s world headquarters, established in 1990, occupies a 400-acre campus in Beaverton, Oregon.⁠[6]

In 1991 activist Jeff Ballinger’s report drew criticism of conditions and wages at Nike’s Indonesian factories. In 1992 Nike published a Supplier Code of Conduct.⁠[3]

Kasky sued Nike in California in April 1998 over the company’s public statements. The U.S. Supreme Court took the case and dismissed it as premature on June 26, 2003. In September 2003 the parties settled: Nike agreed to give the Fair Labor Association an additional $1.5 million for monitoring capacity and worker development programs, without admitting liability.⁠[7]

On May 12, 1998, Phil Knight said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington that Nike would raise the minimum age of shoe factory workers to 18 and of apparel workers to 16, apply U.S. indoor air quality standards abroad, and expand outside monitoring and worker education. He said abuse claims were “more based on anecdotes than anything else.”⁠[8]

In May 2001 Global Exchange, a San Francisco labor-rights group, issued a 105-page report saying Knight’s 1998 promises were largely unmet, while agreeing that Nike had improved health and safety conditions. Knight replied that the company had “made significant strides,” noting that its contract factories employ at least 500,000 workers in more than 50 countries.⁠[9]

Knight stepped down as CEO in December 2004 but remained chairman, handing the post to former S.C. Johnson & Son leader William Perez, the first outsider hired to lead Nike. After only about a year, Perez resigned over differences with Knight on how best to lead the company’s long-term growth.⁠[10]

On January 23, 2006, Nike’s board named Mark Parker, the Nike brand co-president who had joined the company in 1979, as CEO.⁠[11]

In April 2005 Nike’s corporate responsibility report listed the names and addresses of 705 contract factories in more than 50 countries, the first such disclosure by a major U.S. apparel company or retailer. It acknowledged forced overtime, unsafe conditions and sexual harassment at some factories, which Nike said had been corrected.⁠[12]

Nike’s Greater China headquarters was established in 2013 in Yangpu District, Shanghai.⁠[6]

On June 30, 2016, Mark Parker, president and CEO since 2006, became chairman effective immediately, and Phil Knight was named chairman emeritus with a standing invitation to attend board meetings as an observer.⁠[13]

On October 22, 2019, Nike announced that board member John Donahoe would succeed Mark Parker as president and CEO effective January 13, 2020, with Parker becoming executive chairman. Donahoe was then CEO of ServiceNowServiceNowServiceNow is an American enterprise cloud software company founded by Fred Luddy in 2004. It initially entered the enterprise market through IT service management and later expanded its workflow platform to employee service, customer service, security, and artificial intelligence applications. The company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012 under the ticker symbol NOW.Open the full entry and had led eBayeBayeBay Inc. is an online marketplace company headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar; it started out with person-to-person online auctions and listed on Nasdaq in 1998. As of the end of 2025, it had 135 million active buyers, and its platform’s gross merchandise volume in 2025 was nearly $80 billion.Open the full entry from 2008 through 2015.⁠[14]

In early March 2020 the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said Uyghur detainees had been moved into Chinese factories making goods for global brands including Nike. In July Nike said supplier Taekwang’s Qingdao factory had stopped recruiting from Xinjiang in 2019 and that remaining workers from the region had gone home; Gordon G. Chang said Nike needed to show proof.⁠[15]

On September 19, 2024, Nike announced that Elliott Hill, who had retired in 2020, would become president and CEO and join the board on October 14, while John Donahoe would step down on October 13 and advise the company through January 31, 2025. Hill had last served as President – Consumer and Marketplace.⁠[16]

Hill joined Nike in 1988.⁠[2]

As of May 31, 2026, Nike had about 73,000 employees worldwide, including retail and part-time staff, and contract manufacturers operated 95 finished footwear factories in 11 countries and 321 finished apparel factories in 34 countries.⁠[2]

On June 30, 2026, Nike announced results for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2026: revenues of $46.4 billion, flat year on year and down 2% on a currency-neutral basis, and net income of $3.1 billion, down 3%, or $2.10 per diluted share.⁠[17]

On September 4, 2026, S&P Dow Jones IndicesS&P Dow Jones IndicesS&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is a global index provider that compiles and licenses benchmark indices including the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It was formed in 2012 by combining McGraw-Hill’s S&P index business with the Dow Jones Indexes business held by a joint venture of CME Group and Dow Jones, and it is now the index business division of S&P Global, which holds about 73% of the interest.Open the full entry announced that Nike would leave the S&P 100 in its quarterly rebalance before the market opened on September 21, ending nearly 18 years in the index; Nike remained in the S&P 500S&P 500The S&P 500 is a U.S. large-cap equity index compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It includes 500 leading companies, covers about 80% of available market capitalization and is described by S&P DJI as “widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities.”Open the full entry. Its shares closed that day at $38.40, a 12-year low.⁠[18]

In China, Nike’s official App Store app is published by NIKE Commercial (China) Co., Ltd. and carries the brand’s Chinese name alongside “Nike.”⁠[19]