Earlier this year, Nike CEO Elliott Hill visited Camp Nou, Barcelona’s famous football stadium, during a complete renovation. He looked around at the scaffolding, cranes and unfinished sections, and he realized. “This is Nike right now. We are taking deliberate actions that we believe will restore the health and quality of our business, even if these actions create pressure in the near term,” Hill said during Nike’s third-quarter earnings call yesterday (March 31).
Only a few years into his tenure, Hill has embarked on a comprehensive turnaround plan for Nike. The strategy focuses on a return to aggressive sports—specifically soccer—and a shift away from the lifestyle-oriented approach that has prevailed in recent years. The trend has yet to fully register in Nike’s earnings: profit fell 35 percent year-on-year to $520 million in the December-February quarter, while revenue remained flat at $11.3 billion.
Hill, a 30-year Nike veteran who retired in 2020 and returned last year to lead the company, says the transition is happening as planned. He expects at least two years before Nike’s fortunes begin to change. “That’s where we’re tracking right now.”
He replaced former CEO John Donahue, whose focus on lifestyle marketing and away from core sports is costing Nike market share with new competitors such as Hoka and On Running. Hill’s “Win Now” strategy focuses on eliminating excess inventory and refocusing product pipelines on operations. These measures weigh on short-term results, but Hill believes they create the foundation for sustainable, sports-driven repetition.
The bright spot is performance, where sales jumped 20 percent last quarter. Hill said the success has put Nike “on the offensive” and provides a blueprint for other divisions—especially soccer. Nike plans to boost its global football presence ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with the organization’s new kits and apparel launch.
In North America, Nike’s emphasis on more distribution and sports-driven innovation is paying off. The region, which makes up nearly half of the company’s business, saw sales rise 3 percent to $5 billion. “This is hard work, and parts of it are taking longer than I would have liked, but the direction is clear,” Hill said.
China tells a different story. Sales there fell 10 percent to $1.6 billion amid growing competition from domestic companies and are expected to drop another 20 percent year-on-year in the current quarter. Other divisions, including Converse, remain “early in their recovery,” with its subsidiary reporting revenue of $264 million, down 35 percent.
Nevertheless, Hill continues to draw inspiration from the Camp Nou transformation. “Camp Nou has not been rebuilt for the next game, it is still being rebuilt for the next season,” he said. “That’s how I think about the work we do at Nike.”
