Phil Knight
Phil Knight
Philip Hampson "Phil" Knightis an American business magnate and philanthropist. A native of Oregon, he is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, Inc., and previously served as chairman and CEO of the company. In November 2015, Forbes named Knight the 15th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$28.1 billion. He is also the owner of the stop motion film production company Laika...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth24 February 1938
CityPortland, OR
CountryUnited States of America
The slower growth in revenues and continued pressure on margins will result in negative earnings comparison for at least the next two quarters, with fiscal 1998 earnings per share likely to be in the $2 to $2.15 range,
The slowdown in futures orders clearly signals that revenue growth in the second half of fiscal 1998 will be below our previous expectations. This is largely a result of the slowdown in the Asia Pacific market, where we now anticipate more moderate revenue growth in fiscal 1998 after increasing 84 percent on a constant dollar basis in fiscal 1997,
The thing that I'm going to focus on today is essentially the cloud that has been over Nike's head over the last couple years,
At the end of the day, I guess my feeling is that it was sort of a failure to communicate.
The transition from a CEO founder to a new manager is a very, very difficult one.
I was very aware of shoes when I was running track. The American shoes were offshoots of tire companies. Shoes cost $5, and you would come back from a 5-mile run with your feet bleeding.
We could see that he was a charismatic guy who jumps over the moon and is very competitive, but nobody could have predicted what he would become to our culture.
At first, we couldn't be establishment, because we didn't have any money. We were guerrilla marketers, and we still are, a little bit. But, as we became No. 1 in our industry, we've had to modify our culture and become a bit more planned.
Basically, the distance between the company that Bill managed in the packaged goods business and Nike and the kind of new athletic equipment business was too great for him to make that leap.
Personally, I think the failure to really kind of get his arms around this company and this industry led to confusion on behalf of the management team. And I didn't see that getting any better.
We're not in the fashion business, as the Wall Street Journal wrote the other day. We're in the sports business, and there's a big difference.
why does a 67-year-old guy who got his start running an athletic shoe company think he can enter a field famous for gobbling up fortunes?
It's disappointing, but it's still a really good book. I'm glad Kenny did it, and I'm glad it's going to get out. ... I still endorse the book. I think everybody should buy it. I think he did a great job on a very complicated topic.
Ultimately, we wanted Nike to be the world's best sports and fitness company. Once you say that, you have a focus. You don't end up making wing tips or sponsoring the next Rolling Stones world tour.