Over the weekend, sports gear firm Nike celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Known for its famous slogan—”Just Do It”, the Oregon-based company is still expanding its global footprint in sports apparel.
Nike was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports.
It also designs, manufactures, and markets its own line of sports equipment as well.
Successful partnerships
In 1984, Nike lured Basketball player Michael Jordan into signing a contract at a fee reaching $500,000 a year.
With further expansion, Nike decided in 2003 to sign basketball player Lebron James and the late Kobe Bryant to also represent the brand.
In 2008, Nike would acquire the English football kits brand Umbro for $580 million.
In 2012 and 2015, Nike would become the official supplier of both the NFL and NBA, ensuring all kits and uniforms worn by players, officials and personnel are made by the company.
Brand value
According to Statista, as of 2022, the Nike brand was valued at more than $33 billion dollars, which is an increase of nearly $3 billion dollars from the previous year.
Between 2011 and 2025, Nike’s global market share in sports and sports-inspired footwear is predicted to remain steady at around 27.4 percent.
Nike in the GCC region
GMG, a global well-being company retailer, has a long-standing partnership with Nike, signing an agreement in 1982 to bring Nike products to the UAE and then distributing and retailing Nike products across the GCC region as the company expanded.
In 2021, GMG acquired Royal Sporting House, an established sports retailer with Nike as one of its key brands. More recently, GMG acquired the rights to manage, distribute, and retail the Nike brand in Egypt and Iraq, further strengthening its position in sports retail both in the Middle East, Asia, and globally.
Revenues
Since 2010, Nike’s share of revenues from the footwear segment has gone from 11 percent to 28 percent of total revenues, representing an 8.42 percent compounded annual growth rate.
Nike’s biggest competitors by market cap have demonstrated less growth. Over the past decade, Adidas ($41.77 billion market cap) and Puma ($11.93 billion market cap) have shown proportionally smaller revenue attributable to footwear sales and slower growth than Nike.
