The Nike CEO John Donahoe is officially retiring, and the company’s veteran Elliott Hill will take his place. Donahoe, who has been in charge of Nike since January 2020, will leave his job on October 13. Hill is supposed to take over on the following day. Donahoe will continue to serve as an advisor through the end of January.
Soon after they broke the news, the stock prices of the sneaker giant climbed 8% in extended trading Thursday. Shares are down more than 25% this year to date.
The longtime former CEO, Mark Parker, who is now executive chairman, shares a statement to enthusiastically welcome Hill back.
“I am excited to welcome Elliott back to Nike.Given our needs for the future, the past performance of the business, and after conducting a thoughtful succession process, the Board concluded it was clear Elliott’s global expertise, leadership style, and deep understanding of our industry and partners, paired with his passion for sport, our brands, products, consumers, athletes, and employees, make him the right person to lead Nike’s next stage of growth,” Parker said.
Donahoe faced a lot of criticism during his tenure. Everybody stated that the company was losing its innovation edge under him. He was decidedly more removed from the company’s design teams than Parker. It is important to note that when Donahoe joined, he almost immediately found himself battling the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Innovation was challenging for the entire industry during COVID,” Donahoe told Wilson. “We don’t apologize for exploiting sneaker culture and the success of three of the largest franchises.”
Donahoe’s approach of focusing on retro releases and pursuing DTC sales proved to be efficacious in the short term. In 2020, Nike’s annual revenue went up by $51 billion in 2023 from $37 billion. However, the revenue for FY 2024 went up by only 1%.
Donahoe acknowledged that Nike went too far in its attempt to move away from its wholesale partners, and said the company was in the process of fixing it.
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