Nike CEO Elliott Hill Buys Stock as Turnaround Faces Pressure

Elliott Hill’s open-market buy of Nike stock was a confidence message as much as a transaction. The Nike chief executive bought 23,660.235 shares of Nike Class B stock on April 13 at a weighted average price of $42.27, an investment of roughly $1 million, as the Beaverton, Oregon, company tried to convince investors that its recovery plan can outlast the damage already done.

Hill returned to Nike as president and CEO effective October 14, 2024, after more than three decades with the company. Since then, Nike has been in what Hill described as cleanup mode, working through a broader turnaround under its “Win Now” effort. The stock buy landed after Nike shares had fallen to a 12-year low near $43 in early April, a sign of how much skepticism had built around the company’s prospects.

The fundamentals show why the market has been uneasy. In fiscal 2025, Nike’s full-year revenue fell 10% to $46.3 billion, gross margin slipped to 42.7%, and direct-to-consumer revenue declined 13%. Even so, Nike returned $5.3 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends, underscoring how much cash the business still generated despite the slowdown.

The latest quarter did little to calm the pressure. In Nike’s fiscal 2026 third quarter, revenue was $11.3 billion, flat from a year earlier, but gross margin fell 130 basis points to 40.2%. Management said “Win Now” actions would keep affecting results through the rest of the calendar year, a reminder that the cleanup is still eating into near-term performance.

China remains a major risk. On Nike’s March 31 earnings call, management warned that sales in Greater China could fall about 20% in the current quarter, adding another layer of uncertainty to a business already dealing with softer momentum across key channels. Nike beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue estimates in the quarter, but the weaker sales outlook, especially in China, reinforced the market’s caution.

Hill’s purchase was not the only sign of support. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who serves as a Nike director, made a similar roughly $1 million purchase around the same time, and the filings helped push Nike shares higher in after-hours trading. Outside the boardroom, JD Sports CEO Régis Schultz said on May 7 that Hill was “doing a great job,” a notable endorsement from one of Nike’s largest retail partners as the company works to rebuild relationships and regain momentum. The message from Hill’s buy is clear, but the real test will be whether Nike can turn inventory cleanup, brand repair, and international weakness into a durable recovery.