NIKE CEO GONE - John Donahue steps down

And the market responds accordingly with Nike up 10% after hours.

My guess would be that internally they got word that the next earnings report will be a good one - in the very least pointing to a "recovery" and this was the catalyst to pull the trigger on that Bain & Co idiot Donahoe as now Hill comes in and immediately has a sweet earnings report to be the face of and father Phil and the market is happy again.

It is crazy to think how this works right - Donahoe comes in and his initiative wipes tens of billions of dollars from the brands value (including 28.4 in one day alone - June 28). Despite this he still walked away with 29.2 million in salary last year alone - and that was an 11% "paycut" from the year before. Outrageous compensation for basically doing an atrocious job and the worst part about this? Guys like him can never just walk away and enjoy these absurd sums of money - he will pop up somewhere else in 12-18 months time to suck the life out of someone else and that entity will be happy enough to continue writing him fat checks for the privilege.

The CEO club is simply a world that is incomprehensible on many levels. Must be nice.

Yup, it is a strange corner of the world. I have worked on many executive compensation deals, both creating the incoming and ongoing deals and negotiating the exits. The amount of shareholder money that gets dumped on good and bad CEOs is obscene. But the outgoing failed CEO nearly always gets a great deal because no one wants dirty laundry shared in public. The only reliable way to lose your golden payoff is to violate the bad boy clause (such as office romantic affairs and crimes).

Elliott Hill named new CEO.
Hill started his career as a intern 32 years ago.

Go woke go broke

What about the theory that he was brought in to do that big round of upper management cuts from about a year ago.

Once that was done (part of a $2 billion cost-cutting plan) the company could rebound and he could take his golden parachute to his next gig (or retirement).

oregonlive.com

Nike trimmed from the top in recent layoffs, new disclosure shows

matthewkish

More than two out of five jobs eliminated at the company’s Oregon headquarters were vice presidents, senior directors or directors.

Link:www.oregonlive.com/business/2024/07/ni...

Congrats to him! Do we know his PRs? :)

Nike is far from broke

nike share price has essentially halved since three years ago.

Since day one, Nike running shoes (trainers) have been substandard. Removing your product from running stores probably wasn’t a rocket-science move either. That said, don’t expect much to change, given their corporate culture.

Nike needs a comfy shoe

something extremely soft like Hoka, Skechers, On...

something for people who walk

No one cares about runners

are the invincibles not that?

Nike missed the boat on the max shoes - Brooks is coming out with them and about to eat their lunch. They aren't even for runners - nurses and other workers on their feet all day.

They need to come out with a pegasus max at like $140 and they will be fine.

That's nice.....roll in and cut out your nearest Lieutenants a la Kim Jong Un..

The Infinity works for that. I bought a pair and didn't like them for running, but they are great for long dog walks.

The news was so well received that the local grocery stores experienced a run on champagne and sparking wines yesterday afternoon. Whole departments emptied out en masse early in the afternoon to celebrate at local bars, taphouses, and brew pubs. I was having a late lunch with my adult daughter at a brewery restaurant about two miles from Nike HQ and it got packed at around 2:00. Lots of loud comments and cheers about the change and a lot of “Eff you, John!!!”.

My impression is that the Vaporfly is the only shoe they make that huge numbers of runners love -- and it just isn't priced for mass consumption. Yes, they sell millions of Pegs, but nobody loves them and most of us are searching for something better, and something with better foam.

Bidenflation takes down another CEO. Get prepared for an earnings bloodbath.

forbes.com

CEOs Face The Same Threat Of Being Fired As Their Rank-And-File Workers

Jack Kelly

CEO turnover surged in 2024, with top executives facing job insecurity like never before. Discover why CEOs are now as vulnerable to job loss as rank-and-file employees.

Link:www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2024/08...

It's funny how it's always "same sh-t, different day" stuff in this world. Adidas had the exact same situation with Kasper Rohrsted - another muppetweasel from the stranger things "upside down" consulting world that became CEO in 2016 and promptly began eroding any joy there was to work in the brand. And when he "retired" (btw nobody believes that any of these guys are just "retiring" right - they all get fired with huge f--k off packages) people in Herzo did the same thing. The campus had an impromptu stop-work party.

The best part about Rohrsteds firing was his goodbye was filmed on a ski-slope in France and (I'm not exaggerated or joking here) he said his little piece, waved goodbye and literally skied off off down the slope.

So while it's cool to have millions (and in Donahoes case hundreds of million of dollars) in the bank from these roles, I wonder how it feels to know that anytime your name gets mentioned in the future, hundreds and thousands of people - many of whom are better and more intelligent humans than you, just cringe with negative thoughts about you. And there are many good CEO's out there where that isn't the case at all, but certainly not in this (or Rohrsteds) case. Interesting philosophical trade-off.