NIKE announced that its president and CEO, John Donahoe, will retire from his role and the Nike Board of Directors, effective 13 October 2024. However, he will remain as an advisor until 31 January 2025 to ensure a smooth transition.
Elliott Hill, who will take over as president and CEO, will also become a Director of the Nike Board of Directors and a member of the executive committee.
Nike stated that throughout his career at Nike, Hill held senior leadership positions across Europe and North America and was responsible for helping grow the business to more than $39bn.
Before retiring from Nike in 2020, Hill was president of consumer and marketplace, leading all commercial and marketing operations for the Nike and Jordan brands, including the P&L across the company's four geographies.
Mark Parker, executive chairman of Nike, expressed gratitude to Donahoe for his leadership: "I would like to thank John for his contributions to Nike as President and CEO, and as a board member. I would particularly like to recognise the role he played in leading the company during the COVID pandemic and his unwavering support for the investments Nike has made in our communities around the world."
Welcoming Hill back to Nike, he added: "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."
Through 2024, Nike saw lacklustre sales causing shares to slump with data and analytics company GlobalData noting that Nike's market value tanked by 19.2% which resulted in the sportswear giant losing over $32bn in market value during the third quarter.
Nike also confirmed speculation in February that it was restructuring its workforce, which will impact approximately 2% of its global team, as it looks to right-size the business.
Later in May, media reports circled suggesting Nike's footwear brand Converse would be cutting jobs as part of these wider plans.
