Nike shares have fallen nearly 80% from their 2021 peak, erasing close to $200 billion in market value as declining sales, stronger competition and changing consumer preferences weigh on the athletic apparel giant.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Nike has lost nearly $200 billion in market value since its stock reached an all-time high in 2021, with shares now trading near their lowest level in 12 years as the company struggles with falling sales, changing consumer tastes and increasingly aggressive competition.
The decline represents a dramatic reversal for one of the world’s most recognizable athletic brands.
Nike shares reached a record $177.51 roughly five years ago. Since that peak, the stock has fallen nearly 80%, wiping out approximately $200 billion in market capitalization.
The company’s financial deterioration has renewed debate over a series of cultural and political decisions Nike made while its brand was at the center of national controversies involving former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pointed to those decisions while reacting to Nike’s decline, arguing that the company alienated customers who had once viewed the brand as closely connected with American sports culture.
“Sad & predictable,” Cruz wrote on X.
“For my whole life, I wore nearly 100% Nike for athletic wear. Kaepernick pissed me off, but when they canceled the Betsy Ross shoe, it showed that their marketing plan was America-hate. I went out & bought brand new shoes, shorts, t-shirts.”
“Turns out I wasn’t the only one,” Cruz continued. “#GoWokeGoBroke.”
Nike’s association with Kaepernick became one of the most controversial marketing decisions in the company’s recent history.
Kaepernick first drew national attention in 2016 after initially sitting and later kneeling during the national anthem before NFL games. He said the protest was intended to draw attention to racial injustice and police treatment of Black Americans.
He played his final NFL game during the 2016 season.
Two years later, Nike made Kaepernick a prominent figure in one of its major advertising campaigns, bringing the former quarterback back into the national spotlight despite his absence from the league.
The decision immediately divided consumers.
Supporters praised Nike for associating itself with Kaepernick’s protest movement, while critics accused the company of using a politically divisive figure to generate publicity and sell products.
The controversy intensified the following year.
In 2019, Nike prepared a special shoe for the Fourth of July featuring a version of the Betsy Ross flag, the Revolutionary War-era design containing 13 white stars arranged in a circle on a blue field.
Kaepernick objected to the design, arguing that the flag represented a period of American history during which slavery remained legal.
Nike subsequently withdrew the shoe before its planned release.
The decision generated another round of criticism from consumers and political figures who viewed the Betsy Ross flag as a historic symbol of the founding of the United States.
Cruz cited that episode as the point at which he stopped purchasing Nike athletic apparel.
The senator’s criticism comes as Nike confronts problems extending well beyond its political image.
The company has experienced major sales declines while competitors have gained ground and consumer preferences have shifted toward other athletic and lifestyle brands.
Those business challenges have contributed to the sustained selloff in Nike shares and the enormous reduction in the company’s overall market value.
The scale of the decline is particularly notable given Nike’s position only several years ago.
At its 2021 peak, the company’s stock stood at $177.51 per share and Nike remained dominant across major categories of athletic footwear and apparel.
Since then, nearly four-fifths of the stock’s peak value has been erased.
The loss of close to $200 billion in market capitalization reflects investor concerns about whether Nike can restore sales growth and respond effectively to competitors that have captured consumers in categories the company once dominated.
Nike’s struggles cannot be attributed to a single decision. The company is confronting changing fashion trends, heightened competition and declining sales, all of which have contributed to its weakening financial performance.
Its earlier political controversies, however, continue to shape how some former customers and elected officials interpret the company’s decline.
Cruz’s comments reflect the view among Nike critics that its embrace of Kaepernick and later withdrawal of the Betsy Ross-themed shoe damaged its relationship with part of its traditional customer base.
Nearly a decade after Kaepernick first began his national anthem protest, Nike now finds itself in a dramatically different financial position.
A company whose shares were trading at record levels in 2021 has since lost nearly 80% of that peak value, leaving investors and consumers watching whether one of America’s best-known sports brands can reverse the sales declines and competitive pressures that have pushed its stock to a 12-year low.
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