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Nike on Thursday said the company will again be organized around sports, effectively finalizing a yearlong corporate overhaul during a period of declining sales and deteriorating morale.
The company expects to lay off less than 1% of its “corporate team” as part of the reorganization. Nike employs 10,500 at its headquarters near Beaverton. A 1% layoff would mean the elimination of roughly 100 jobs.
The company’s senior leadership team made the announcement in an email to employees with the subject line, “Go Time for Our Sport Offense.”
“It’s a formation built to put sport and sport culture back at the center, to connect more deeply with the athlete and the consumer, and to give us the space to create what only we can,” the company’s top executives said in the email.
The email was signed by CEO Elliott Hill and his 15 direct reports, which includes the heads of various departments.
The sportswear giant has been in a rare and sustained slump, reporting five consecutive quarters of decreased sales, after over-emphasizing the sale of retro sneakers and direct sales on its website and in its stores.
Since he started work in October, Hill has worked to reverse those strategic decisions, ramping up the company’s focus on athletic footwear worn in competition and rebuilding relationships with retailers.
Even before his first day, Nike signaled in mid-2024 that it would bring sports back to the forefront. It had previously been organized around making products for men, women and kids, a formation that some employees said dulled the company’s focus.
On his first earnings call in December, Hill said the company had lost its “obsession with sports” and the company would shift to be organized around “sport-led teams,” but details remained unclear.
Since then, Hill has overhauled the company’s leadership team, including naming new heads of communications, legal, sports marketing and human resources. On a June call with stock analysts, Hill said he’d changed 11 of his 15 direct reports.
Thursday’s announcement means the roughly one-year overhaul is almost over.
In the email, the company asked corporate employees to work from home next week as it tells workers about layoffs and new job roles.
The company will have an all-staff meeting on Sept. 10. New jobs will take effect on Sept. 21.
“Change can be difficult,” the company’s leaders wrote in the email. “It can also be what sharpens the edge, aligns the team and sets up the win.”
It will be the third consecutive year of significant layoffs at the company.
In 2023, Nike laid off workers in several departments, including human resources, recruiting and sourcing.
Last year, Nike laid off 740 Oregon workers as part of a 2% cut to its global workforce, part of a $2 billion cost-cutting effort.
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