Nike Waiting for Turnaround Amid Rare Crisis

More than one and half years after long-time Nike veteran Elliott Hill returned to the sportswear giant as President and CEO, the turnaround he's supposed to lead has yet to show results. On June 30, the company reported that sales for fiscal year 2026, which ended May 31, were flat as modest growth in North America and EMEA was mostly offset by a double-digit sales decline in Greater China. While Nike's efforts to rebuild wholesale partnerships started to pay dividends - wholesale revenue increased 6 percent - Nike Direct revenue, i.e. sales across Nike's own website, app and retail locations, dropped 6 percent.

Despite the failure to reignite short-term growth, Hill sees his company better positioned for the long term under his new strategy. His Win Now action plan aims to refocus on sport, rebuild wholesale relationships and sharpen product innovation - marking a complete reversal from his predecessor's DTC-first approach and strong reliance on legacy footwear models. "We're building Nike the right way, not for the next quarter, but for the next decade," he emphasized in the company's latest earnings call, implicitely asking shareholders for patience.

As our chart shows, there have been very few setbacks in Nike’s decade-spanning growth story. Since its founding days in the early 1970s until today, the company has never seen two consecutive years of declining sales. Time will tell if that streaks continues.