Nike co-founder reflects on career as he eyes retirement.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Oregon billionaire Phil Knight’s $24.4 billion was good enough for 17th place on the 2015 Forbes 400 list.
Bill Gates, who is based in Seattle, took the top spot with $76 billion.
The magazine said this about Nike’s co-founder:
Change is afoot at Nike. After 51 years of running the sportswear giant, Knight announced in June that he was stepping down as chairman. At the same time Knight’s son, Travis, joined Nike’s board, and Knight moved the vast majority of his Nike stock into an entity appropriately titled Swoosh LLC. The stock didn’t miss a beat, continuing its steady climb of late. Going forward, Nike CEO Mark Parker is set to take on the chairman role; he has been at Nike for decades, starting as a shoe designer in 1979. The son of a newspaper publisher, Knight ran track at the University of Oregon before going to business school at Stanford. He graduated with an MBA and decided to travel the world. While abroad, Knight talked his way into meetings with Japanese shoe suppliers. Back home, he and his old track coach Bill Bowerman each put up $500 to start a company called Blue Ribbon Sports. Knight changed the name to Nike in 1978, after the Greek goddess of victory. The tread on Bowerman’s early shoe designs was inspired by his wife’s waffle iron. Knight founded Nike in 1964, shortly after he had graduated from Stanford B-school, traveled the world and talked his way into meetings with Japanese shoe suppliers. Back home he and his old track coach Bill Bowerman each put up $500 to start a company called Blue Ribbon Sports. Knight changed the name to Nike in 1978, after the Greek goddess of victory. The tread on Bowerman’s early shoe designs was inspired by his wife’s waffle iron.
(SOURCE: Forbes)
Knight recently gave an interview to USA Today to reflect on his career as he prepares to retire in 2016.
“The industry has changed enormously,” Knight said. “I’ll just say it’s grown and the companies that are in the industry are in more different areas than ever before. So Under Armour is a very serious competitor, but Adidas is the next biggest and they’ve got a lot of money to spend and they have a lot of capability. We worry about them all. And it isn’t just shoes.
“In golf, we compete against Titleist. In women’s athletic gear, we compete against Lululemon, so we worry about them all.”
(SOURCE: USA Today)
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