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Nike’s Chief Executive, Mark Parker, Is Stepping Down Nike’s Chief Executive, Mark Parker, Is Stepping Down
(about 3 hours later)
Nike announced on Tuesday that its chief executive, Mark Parker, would step down at the beginning of next year. Nike said on Tuesday that its chief executive, Mark Parker, who led the company through a period of tremendous growth but also saw his leadership challenged by a number of controversies, would step down early next year.
He will be replaced by John Donahoe, a board member and the chief executive of ServiceNow. Mr. Parker, who has led the sportswear company since 2006, will become executive chairman. He will be replaced by John Donahoe, a member of Nike’s board of directors and the chief executive of ServiceNow, a cloud computing company. Previously, he was the chief executive of eBay.
Mr. Donahoe has been on Nike’s board since 2014. He joined ServiceNow, an information technology and software company, in April 2017 and was previously the president and chief executive of Ebay. Nike said Mr. Parker would become executive chairman of the company on Jan. 13, leading the board of directors and working closely with Mr. Donohoe and the senior management team.
Earlier this month, Nike shut down its elite running training group called the Oregon Project, run for years by Alberto Salazar. That came shortly after the United States Anti-Doping Agency barred Mr. Salazar from the sport of distance running for four years for doping violations. Mr. Parker initially stood behind Mr. Salazar but later said that keeping the Oregon Project running while Mr. Salazar appealed his penalty was no longer tenable. “I am delighted John will join our team,” Mr. Parker said in a statement released by the company. “His expertise in digital commerce, technology, global strategy and leadership combined with his strong relationship with the brand, make him ideally suited to accelerate our digital transformation.”
Mr. Parker was involved in other controversies in recent years. Last year, female employees led an internal revolt against what they saw as a toxic culture of bullying and harassment within the company. Nike pushed out a dozen top-level executives, but Mr. Parker remained. The news that Mr. Parker was stepping down as chief executive came as Nike’s stock price hit a high of more than $95 in trading on Tuesday. The stock has nearly doubled in the past three years, reflecting Nike’s growth in key markets like China and its focus on selling directly to consumers, both online and in its own stores. For the year ending in May, Nike’s revenues grew by 7.5 percent, to $39.1 billion.
This summer, several current and former female Nike-sponsored runners came forward to say they had been forced to decide whether to risk financial penalties from Nike by becoming pregnant. The company responded by changing its policy. The financial success has been tempered in recent years by a series of controversies inside the company.
In September, emails emerged that showed Mr. Parker had direct knowledge of tests being conducted with performance-enhancing drugs by the company’s premiere long-distance running coach, Alberto Salazar.
According to emails contained in a decision in a case between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and Mr. Salazar, Mr. Parker and other top Nike officials were briefed on several occasions between 2009 and 2011 regarding medical experiments involving testosterone, a banned substance. The tests, the agency said, were attempting to determine the effects of testosterone, how much of the substance could be used by athletes without it being detected, and whether an allowable amount of another substance, L-carnitine, could be used to benefit athletes.
The agency barred Mr. Salazar from track and field for four years for violating antidoping rules. As head coach of the Nike Oregon Project, a training group based at the company’s headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., Mr. Salazar has worked with some of the world’s top distance runners. He denied any wrongdoing.
Mr. Parker and Nike initially stood by Mr. Salazar and committed to funding his appeal of the punishment. A week later, however, Mr. Parker announced that Nike was shutting down the Oregon Project and cutting official ties with Mr. Salazar, though it said it would still finance his appeal.
Shalane Flanagan, a Nike-sponsored runner who this week joined the coaching staff of another elite training group at Nike, said she was not surprised by the activities cited in the agency report on Mr. Salazar but that she did not realize Mr. Parker had been aware of what was going on.
“There must be some deeper layers to this that are over my head,” Ms. Flanagan said of Mr. Parker’s leaving as chief executive.
This year, several current and former female Nike-sponsored runners came forward to say they had been forced to decide whether to risk financial penalties from the company if they became pregnant. Nike responded by changing its policy, waiving performance-pay reductions for pregnant athletes.
In early 2018, a number of women inside the organization described the environment at Nike as a toxic boy’s club. They said their careers had been blunted, they felt marginalized in meetings, and endured other forms of sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
As a result, Nike and Mr. Parker removed more than a dozen executives, both male and female. Those who left the company included Trevor Edwards, the president of the Nike brand who was widely seen at the time as a candidate to replace Mr. Parker.
KeJuan Wilkins, a spokesman for Nike, said Mr. Parker’s decision to step aside now was “absolutely not” a result of the Oregon Project controversy or any other issue. Rather, he said, it was part of a plan with the board of directors that has been in the works for months to name a successor.
Nike, seen by many as an insular organization that can be tough for outsiders to navigate, has looked outside the company before for leadership. The results were not reassuring.
In late 2004, William D. Perez, the former head of S.C. Johnson & Son, the maker of Windex and Ziploc bags, was named chief executive. Over the next 13 months, Mr. Perez battled Nike’s founder and chairman, Philip H. Knight, for control of the company before Mr. Perez abruptly resigned. Mr. Parker was named his replacement.
Mr. Wilkins said Mr. Donohoe’s experience and knowledge of the company would allow for a smooth transition. He has been on Nike’s board since 2014, working closely with Mr. Parker and other executives as the company has expanded its business overseas and online.
Mr. Wilkins said Mr. Donohoe’s background at eBay and ServiceNow would be valuable as the company continued to expand its online offerings and sell more products directly to customers.
The announcement of Mr. Parker’s impending move came on the same day that Under Armour said its founder and chief executive, Kevin Plank, would no longer oversee day-to-day operations, though he will remain the company’s executive chairman.The announcement of Mr. Parker’s impending move came on the same day that Under Armour said its founder and chief executive, Kevin Plank, would no longer oversee day-to-day operations, though he will remain the company’s executive chairman.
This story is developing and will be updated.