Nike CEO Elliott Hill inherited an uphill battle when he took over at the sports giant in October 2024.
Since then, Hill has made changes — both big and small — to the company as part of its turnaround strategy. After retiring from Nike in 2020, the former president of consumer and marketplace returned to guide the company amid declining sales, sluggish growth, and increased pressure from upstart rivals.
During the quarter preceding Hill’s start, Nike’s revenue declined 10% year over year to $11.6 billion, following flat growth in the 2024 fiscal year. Nike shares jumped about 8% on the day Hill’s appointment was announced in September.
The Nike veteran didn’t waste time launching his strategy when he took the helm, reevaluating the existing practices and adjusting them as needed.
“We lost our obsession with sport,” Hill said on a December 2024 earnings call. “Moving forward, we will lead with sport and put the athlete at the center of every decision.”
Last week, during the company’s most recent quarter, Hill told investors that the comeback “won’t be a straight line.”
Here’s what Hill has been up to in 2025.
Hill kick-started his turnaround plan
Nike’s “win now” strategy — Hill described it on last week’s earnings call as Nike’s “immediate response to our biggest challenges and opportunities” — focuses on five key areas: culture, product, marketing, marketplace, and in-person presence.
The plan leans on a sports-driven reset that has “realigned” about 8,000 employees around its core sports categories, the company said. Those categories include running, basketball, football, and training, as well as sportswear.
The idea is to put the athlete “at the center of everything that we do,” Hill said in a March earnings call.
The running category is leading the effort and reflects the direction Hill is steering the company. Nike said its running business grew by more than 20% last quarter, which ended in November, marking the second consecutive period of comparable growth.
Nike’s senior leadership team got a revamp
Hill shook up Nike’s leadership this year.
In May, he restructured its consumer, product, and brand leadership to focus on three areas: consumer and sport, marketing, and product creation. As part of that overhaul, Nike’s former president of consumer, product, and brand retired, and Hill promoted four other Nike insiders to senior roles reporting to him: president of Nike (Amy Montagne), chief innovation, design, and product officer (Phil McCartney), chief marketing officer (Nicole Graham), and chief growth initiatives officer (Tom Clarke).
Hill also hired a new communications chief this year, Michael Gonda.
And he made another round of changes in December, eliminating the roles of chief technology officer and chief commercial officer. At the same time, Nike established the role of chief operating officer, which reports to Hill. The new job’s function is to “integrate technology more seamlessly into our sport offense,” Hill said in a note to employees that Nike released publicly. Venkatesh Alagirisamy, a 20-year veteran of Nike, transitioned into the role on December 8.
As part of the shake-up, general managers in all regions now report directly to Hill.
“It’s clear how important it is to stay closely connected to what’s happening on the ground, from intern to CEO, and every role I’ve held in between, I’ve felt that way,” Hill said on last week’s earnings call.
He began mending relationships with wholesale partners
Hill said Nike’s ties with wholesalers such as Foot Locker and Dick’s Sporting Goods had frayed amid its aggressive shift toward direct-to-consumer sales.
Since Hill’s return, he said he’s been mending those relationships. For example, Nike is back on Amazon and has struck partnerships with smaller retailers, such as Urban Outfitters and Aritzia.
Nike’s wholesale revenues increased 8% year over year to $7.5 billion during its most recent quarter, which ended November 30.
Hill pulled back on promotions and raised prices
Hill said that Nike would strive to provide a more “elevated” experience for consumers, speaking in a January interview with Fortune. He said Nike had become “too promotional” on its own site.
“Being premium also means full price,” Hill told Fortune. “We’ll focus on promotions during traditional retail moments, not at the consistent levels we are today.”
He said in March that Nike Digital, which includes its website and app, ran zero promotions in North America in January and February, down from over 30 during the same months in 2024. The cutback on promotions came alongside “surgical” price increases Nike made to mitigate tariffs in 2025.
He gave the House of Innovation concept store a makeover
Nike’s 68,000-square-foot House of Innovation is the blueprint for its stores. It’s a six-story flagship store that opened in 2018, showcasing the company’s most advanced products. The first floor is dedicated to running, and the rest of the sprawling store is organized by sport, gender, and age.
Hill has frequently pointed to the revamped store in his first year as a model for Nike’s move to sports-driven retail layouts.
“It’s an immersive sport experience, and the refresh has already led to double-digit revenue increases,” Hill told investors in September.
Nike did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Read the full article here
