Nike Cuts 1,400 Jobs as “Win Now” Strategy Takes Shape

Nike announced its latest round of layoffs last week, eliminating approximately 1,400 roles, mostly in the technology department, per CNBC. 

Layoffs Target Technology Team Amid Strategic Shift

This comes after a report, also by CNBC, surfaced that said Meta would lay off about 8,000 employees in May. 

The move comes amid the company's deployment of a new "Win Now" strategy, per a note from COO Venkatesh Alagirisamy. The goal is to reshape the technology team, modernize Air manufacturing, move Converse Footwear operations, and "integrate its materials supply chain work into its footwear and apparel supply chain teams."

“Collectively, these changes will result in a reduction of approximately 1,400 roles in global operations, with the majority in technology,” Alagirisamy wrote. “These reductions are very hard for the teammates directly affected and for the teams around them, too.”

Cuts Aim to Accelerate Growth and Keep Pace

CNBC reported that a Nike spokesperson said the layoffs were aimed at accelerating growth and keeping pace with the "current pace of sports." 

This represents less than 2% of the total global talent base. 

“This is not a new direction,” Alagirisamy wrote. “It is the next phase of the work already underway.”

Ongoing Job Cuts Follow Sales Struggles

After years of slumping sales, CEO Elliott Hill has been working to turn the company around. There's been some progress, but, as CNBC put it, there have been "bumps in the road." 

In January, Nike announced 775 job cuts across US distribution centers. This was due to the company's increased automation, and it said the cuts were made in an attempt to return to “long-term, profitable growth.”

There were also cuts last summer that impacted corporate staff. 

“As we shared in Q4 earnings, NIKE, Inc. is in the midst of a realignment. The moves we’re making are about setting ourselves up to win and create the next great chapter for NIKE,” the company told CNBC in a statement last summer. “This new formation is built to put sport and sport culture back at the center, to connect more deeply with the athlete and the consumer, and to give us the space to create what only NIKE can.”

Last month, Nike reported third-quarter earnings and warned that sales would continue to fall throughout the year, with about a 20% decline in China in the current quarter.