Nike hired a digital outsider to run a brand company — then brought back an insider

In January 2020 Nike's board handed the chief executive's job to John Donahoe, who had run eBay and the consulting firm Bain & Co. He was not a retailer. He was hired, in the board's framing, for his digital expertise, to lead Nike's pivot to selling directly to consumers through its own stores and website.

The direct-to-consumer push worked while the pandemic drove online sales, and Nike's annual sales grew from $39.1 billion in fiscal 2019 to $51.4 billion in fiscal 2024. But as the pandemic faded the strategy weakened. To build its own channels, Nike had pulled back from its wholesale partners — and, as Donahoe later conceded, gone too far. The shelf space it vacated was taken by newer rivals such as On Running and Hoka.

Critics said that in becoming a retailer, Nike had lost sight of the innovation it was known for. Sales growth stalled; in late June 2024 Nike warned of a 10 percent sales decline for the quarter, far worse than the 3.2 percent analysts had expected, and the stock had its worst trading day in history. By September the shares were down more than 25 percent for the year, and Nike had announced a $2 billion cost-cutting plan and cuts of more than 1,500 jobs.

On 19 September 2024 the board replaced Donahoe with Elliott Hill, a 32-year Nike veteran who had started as an intern in the 1980s, risen to president of Nike's consumer and marketplace division, and retired in 2020. Hill came out of retirement to take the job, effective 14 October 2024; Donahoe stayed on as an adviser into January 2025. The board had hired a digital operator to run a brand company, and four and a half years later hired a brand operator to repair the damage.