Free Essays,College Free Essays,Free College Essays at Anti Essays

Nike Inc: Cost of Capital

Nike was founded in 1964 and was formerly known as Blue Ribbon Sports. Track star Bill Bowerman and his coach Philip Knight created Blue Ribbon Sports which later became Nike in 1978. The name Nike comes from the Greek Goddess of victory. In 1966 the first retail store was opened in Santa Monica, Ca. By 1980, Nike had reached 50 percent of market share in the U.S. athletic shoe market. This is also when Nike went public with two million shares of stock. Throughout the 1980’s Nike expanded into many other sports and regions around the world. In 1981, Nike established factories were established in China.
Nike now has more than 500 locations around the world, and still remains the world’s largest athletic shoe supplier. Most of Nike’s factories are located in Asia. Nike also sells its products to 25,000 retailers in the U.S. and 140 countries worldwide. Nike has produced several products such as: Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike +, Air Jordan, Nike Skateboarding, Starter, and subsidiaries including Bauer, Cole Haan, Hurley, Umbro, and Converse. Nike has sponsored many athletes and sports teams around the world. Such athletes are Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Lance Armstrong, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan. Nikes first endorser was Romanian tennis star Ilie Nastase.
By midyear 2001, Nike seemed to be having some trouble. Nike’s revenues had hovered around $9 billion since 1997. In addition, net income had fallen from $800 million to $580 million during the same time period. Also, Nike’s market share in United States athletic shoes had plummeted from 48% in 1997 to 42% in the year 2000.
On June 28th, 2001, at a Nike analysts’ meeting, Nike management announced a new strategy for the company. This plan addressed both top-line growth and operating performance. Nike management also planned to boost revenue by focusing on development of more shoes in the mid-priced range for the United States. At this...