After Nike released a disappointing forecast for next year, sending the company’s shares plunging, CEO Elliott Hill turned to employees to vent his frustration.
“I’m so tired, and I know you are too, of talking about fixing this business,” Hill said at an all-staff meeting on Tuesday, according to a recording heard by Bloomberg News. “I want to start inspiring and driving growth and having fun.”
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Nike shares fell as much as 13% shortly after the start of regular trading on Wednesday, reaching their lowest intraday level in more than 11 years. The company told investors that revenue is expected to decline in the current quarter and remain low throughout the calendar year. The weakness in Greater China and the drop in Converse sales are among the management’s biggest challenges.
“You can’t just sit back and say everything is great,” Hill said, referring to the conference call with investors in which Nike released its projections. “Frankly, it needed to be different.”
A Nike spokesperson had no immediate comment.
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When Hill took the helm in October 2024, he worked to undo some of his predecessor’s moves, refocusing the business on sports and rebuilding the company’s relationships with wholesale partners. Despite the change in strategy, shares have fallen by more than 35% since he took over.
Hill said parts of his strategy “took longer, much longer than I would have liked.” The company’s results have been a “split screen”: areas such as North America and the racing category have improved, but not enough to convince investors.
Nike CFO Matthew Friend expressed a similar sentiment. “We knew, looking at the projection ahead, that the trajectory of the business was going down.”
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Friend told staff they need to be careful with their budgets, only spending where it makes sense.
“We will continue to manage costs carefully, as we have been doing,” said the CFO. “I know this creates internal tension, but I need you to understand that this tension exists because our business is not going in the right direction.”
“I hate losing, and we have work to do on some of those fronts,” Hill added.
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