How Nike Broke Its Own Brand

Nike's Swoosh is on the jersey of almost every team at the World Cup. It's on LeBron's shoes. On the kit of every NFL team in America. So how is the company behind it worth less than TJ Maxx? Nike's stock has fallen roughly 75% from its all-time high. Three of Wall Street's biggest banks downgraded the company on the same day. And its own CEO warned investors that the worst quarter of the turnaround was still ahead. Nike wasn't beaten by a better competitor. It wasn't disrupted by new technology. It handed its lead away — decision by decision — until the brands nobody had heard of five years ago were standing exactly where Nike used to be. This is the story of how one of the most powerful brands in the history of sport broke itself.