Nike is a famous sportswear and accessory manufacturing brand that ranks first in its industry. It has made a big name for itself in the industry and needs no further introduction.
Humble beginning
In January 1964, an athlete from the University of Oregon going by the name Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman decided to distribute sports shoes which were manufactured by a Japanese company known as Onitsuka Tiger.
Knight and Bowerman started visiting different sports meet and sold shoes displaying them on their vehicle. Their company was known as Blue Ribbon Sports.
BRS did incredibly well and sold around 1300 shoes in the first year itself. Following their success, the duo hired a full-time employee and in 1966 they opened a retail store in Santa Monica. They even expanded their business in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
However, things went downhill between Blue Ribbon Sports and Onitsuka in 1971 following which they ended their contract. This led to Blue Ribbon Sports being renamed as Nike on May 30, 1971. Their logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson.
Nike witnessed massive success during the 1980s. They established their World Headquarters Campus in Beaverton, Oregon in 1990. In 1994, Nike purchased Bauer Hockey.
They even acquired Converse for a whopping $309 million back in 2003. They did not stop at that. Nike also purchased Starter in 2004 and Umbro in 2008. However, both of them were sold in 2007 and 2012 respectively.
Today, the company employs over 74,400 people around the world and sponsors some of the best athletes of the world.
Net worth
Nike’s market cap is estimated to be over $200 billion.
The brand has grown immensely. It has gone from selling shoes at the back of a van to being the largest sportswear manufacturing brands in the world. It certainly lives by its logo “Just Do It”.
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