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
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.
Our business practices are no different than those of our competitors, but we are bigger, and thus more visible, so we get more flack.
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.
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.
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.
I believe that continued strong consumer acceptance of our products at retail and the strengthening of our organization will enable us to manage through the challenges in our U.S. footwear business and lay the foundation for another round of growth,
I am pleased with the strides we've made in our global equipment business where revenues grew 41 percent this past quarter and 37 percent year-to-date, ... The strong dollar continues to negatively impact our European results; constant dollar revenues in Europe were up 23 percent in the second quarter.
Nike is a marketing-oriented company, and the product is our most important marketing tool
It's alright to be Goliath but always act like David.
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 are committed to improving working conditions for the 500,000 people who make our products,
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.
At the end of the day, I guess my feeling is that it was sort of a failure to communicate.