USA TODAY International Edition
Nearing finish line, Knight reflects
With enough relish to cover a foot- long hot dog, Nike co- founder Phil Knight recalled an item that appeared in
Fortune magazine in 1984. “There’s no better example that Nike has lost its way than they paid $ 250,000 for a North Carolina basketball player,” Knight said with a grin.
That North Carolina basketball player was Michael Jordan.
Nike’s Jordan Brand, which features Air Jordan sneakers and apparel, now generates $ 2 billion a year, Knight noted. Not a bad return on its original investment, so it’s no surprise Knight said
signing Jordan was the best business decision he made while growing Nike into a $ 30 billion company — from which Knight is preparing to relinquish power.
Last week, in his first sit- down interview about the company since he announced in April he would step down as the company’s chairman in 2016, Knight did something he often has avoided: looking back. But first he clarified something.
When told his executive assistant didn’t think he would be able to walk away from Nike when he resigns as chairman, Knight retorted, “I didn’t say I’m walking away. I said I was stepping down as chairman. I won’t walk away. I’ll be carried away.”
Knight was sitting inside the John McEnroe Building on Nike’s campus that covers 394 acres — far more room than he had when he started the shoe company out of his car trunk and partnered with Bill Bowerman, who coached Knight in cross country at the University of Oregon.
“A lime green Plymouth Valiant,” Knight said. “A trunkful of shoes and no radio. You can imagine what a girl magnet I was.”
The self- effacing remark suggests Knight has mellowed. No more wraparound Oakley sunglasses. More warmth. Even an admission that Nike deserved some of the criticism it got for subpar working conditions in foreign factories.
At 77, Knight has an opportunity to review some of his controversial remarks — like from a 20/ 20 interview in 1988, when he said he was looking forward to forcing rival Reebok to fire 280 workers — and apologize. Well, maybe not. “That’s kind of the nature of the business, is that there are winners and losers,” Knight said, referring to his comments in the
20/ 20 interview. “When Reebok went by us ( in sales), we had to let go of 280 people, and it was a painful experience. And our job was to go back by them, and the result of that was they would have to let some people go.
“It made perfect sense to me and still does.”
By contrast to the days when sneaker superpowers Nike and Reebok squared off in a figurative 100- meter dash, Knight com- pares the dynamics of today’s competition to a mile race.
“You look around, and there are three or four different guys,” he said, and one of those looming competitors is Under Armour, with Tom Brady, Bryce Harper and Stephen Curry among athletes endorsing its products. However, Under Armour reported $ 3 billion in revenue in 2014 compared with Nike’s $ 27 billion.
“The industry has changed enormously,’’ Knight said. “I’ll just say it’s grown and the companies that are in the industry are in more different areas than ever before. So Under Armour is a very serious competitor, but Adidas is the next biggest and they’ve got a lot of money to spend and a lot of capability. We worry about them all. And it isn’t just shoes.
“In golf, we compete against Titleist. In women’s athletic gear, we compete against Lululemon, so we worry about them all.”
For those aspiring to build a company big enough to make Knight and Nike worry, he has some advice. “I say get into something that you really, really love,” he said. “Particularly when you’re an entrepreneur, because there are going to be dark moments. … If you’re trying to get into the sports business, you really have to find a niche.”
Knight, for example, loved running. Which in turn led him into the sneaker business. But when he climbed behind the wheel of his lime green Plymouth Valiant in 1964 with boxes of sneakers in the trunk, could he have possibly imagined where he and his company would be today?
“Right on time,” Knight said with relish.
“If you’re trying to get into the sports business, you really have to find a niche.” Nike chairman Phil Knight