Nike CEO Elliott Hill helped give his company a jolt in the market right before the end of the 2025 after he purchased around $1 million in stock this week.
Shares of Nike closed on Wednesday at $63.71, up 4.12 percent on the final day of trading of the year, with news of the move a sign to investors that Hill is taking a personal stake in the company’s turnaround.
Hill is now the third Nike insider to make a major stock buy in the past two weeks. According to SEC regulatory filings disclosed by the company, Hill bought 16,388 shares on Monday and upped his tally to just over 7 percent and now holds 241,587 shares.
Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook doubled his holdings in Nike with after he acquired 50,000 shares at $3 million. Cook is Nike’s lead independent director and has served on the board since 2005. Meanwhile, former Intel CEO Bob Swan, who is also a Nike board member, around $500,000 in shares three days before Cook’s purchase.
Nike has navigated a year of tepid sales that have pulled its share price down 16 percent in 2025 following six straight quarterly declines in the Chinese market. But it has rebounded somewhat in the closing moments of the year, with the recent buying of its own insiders rallying the share price up to around 11 percent.
Still, the company faces a long road to sway consumer confidence in the face of increased competition from longtime rivals like Adidas, while On and Hoka are now proven upstarts and Chinese powerhouses Li Ning and Anta continue to dominate in their home markets.
Hill has launched a refocused effort for Nike this year under his “Win Now” initiative that has seen the company ease away from its reliance on retro lifestyle products and an emphasis on direct sales on its website. A revamped performance running shoe roster saw the introduction and release of nine new models tailored around the Pegasus, Vomero and Structure lines.
Following the company’s second quarter earnings in mid-December, Hill revealed a major shakeup at the executive level with the creation of a new chief operating officer role but eliminated the chief technology officer and chief commercial officer positions along with moving its direct-to-consumer duties over to its finance boss. Nike has also resumed selling on Amazon as part of a larger effort to tighten its bond with wholesalers.
Nike’s stock dipped 10 percent following the earnings report that was mixed at best, with Hill being mindful of the company’s struggles in the marketplace as its turnaround continues well into the new year.
“We’re finding our rhythm in our new sport offense, and setting ourselves up for the next phase of athlete-centered innovation in an elevated and integrated marketplace,” Hill said.
