Nike on Thursday disclosed a new round of layoffs, this time impacting its corporate team.
The move comes after president and chief executive officer Elliott Hill raised the possibility of layoffs in June during Nike’s earnings report for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025.
Nike told Footwear News that 1 percent of its corporate employees will be let go. An email from the company’s leadership team informed employees of the realignment beginning next week. U.S. and Canadian employees will work remotely until Sept. 8, when Nike says its conversations about the changes will conclude. A Nike Team meeting is then scheduled for Sept. 10, with new roles to take effect Sept. 21.
“Change can be difficult. It can also be what sharpens the edge, aligns the team and sets up the win,” the email, signed by Hill and members of the senior leadership team, said. “And the W is ours to take, embracing an athlete mindset that leads with passion, commitment and determination.”
Net sales fell 12 percent for the final quarter of 2025 compared to the same year period, but a sense of optimism surrounds Nike in its efforts to turn around business. Shares rose by 15 percent on the day after the earnings call, in which Hill said the worst was now behind Nike.
“The results we’re reporting in Q4 and in fiscal year 2025 are not up to the Nike standard,” Hill said at the time. “But as we said 90 days ago, the work we’re doing to reposition the business through our Win Now actions is having an impact. From here, we expect our business results to improve. It’s time to turn the page.”
Two rounds of layoffs in May and June focused on Nike’s technology division, with some of that work being shifted to third-party vendors. In spring 2024, Nike laid off an additional 740 employees at its Beaverton, Ore., global headquarters, which the company expected to amount to $2 billion in cost savings in anticipation of a drop in revenue.
Earlier in the year, Hill outlined the company’s new “Win Now” strategy, with a refocus on performance across the board for the Nike, Jordan Brand and Converse brands. Popular lifestyle models that include the Air Jordan 1, Air Force 1, Dunk Low and Vomero 5 are being scaled down in production. Hill also identified the U.S., U.K. and China as three key countries for the company’s turnaround, with New York, Los Angeles, London, Beijing and Shanghai as the five key cities.
“In the coming weeks, we shift to a sport offense — setting ourselves up to win and create the next great chapter in Nike, Inc.’s story,” the company-wide email said. “It’s a formation built to put sport and sport culture back at the center, to connect more deeply with the athlete and the consumer, and to give us the space to create what only we can.”
As Nike moves towards its anticipated resurgence, its running line is already showing encouraging signs with growth in the “high single digits” during Q4. Part of the rise is attributed to the Vomero franchise, which hit $100 million in sales injust a few months following the release of the Vomero 18.