Nike Stock Crashes Because Of "Woke" Shift

Several sources agree on one thing, Nike is either in a heap of trouble or slowly steadying the ship after the John Donahoe era — a time when the company lacked innovation and focused too heavily on building out direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales.

The sneaker giant's share price is currently down more than 70 percent from its high in 2021 during the pandemic. Nike shares are currently trading at around US$ 44.

The last month in particular, the company has been plagued by a string of bad news coming out of the sneaker giant's Beaverton, Oregon, headquarters.

Nike faced backlash after its Boston Marathon "Runners Welcome, Walkers Tolerated." ad. It eventually apologized and walked the ad back. Then, the retailer announced that it was cutting 14,000 employees from its workforce, primarily in its tech department.

Nike has now done two rounds of layoffs in 2026. It's also the fourth consecutive year the company has downsized staff. Nike has said recent layoffs are about better positioning the company for the current pace of sports and accelerating its growth.

To make matters worse, Nike's new campaign promoting the Dutch national team’s new kit ahead of the 2026 World Cup under the slogan "Strength is found in diversity" is under fire. In the caption accompanying the promotional video, the companies stated that they sought to "reimagine Dutch football through the spirit of New Netherlands".

The intention is laudable, but the one-minute visual featured almost exclusively non-white individuals, including Surinamese brass bands and youths in animal masks moving on all fours, resembling some kind of urban jungle. Combined with the use of the term "New Netherlands", the campaign quickly sparked widespread mockery and backlash online.

Morningstar analyst ⁠David Swartz recently told Reuters that the "wokeness" started Nike's problems and it "runs deeper than originally thought." He added the company should be further along in its recovery, while acknowledging Nike may have been overstaffed thanks to diversity quotas.

Nike's revenue was down 3 percent to US$ 11.3 billion on a currency neutral basis in its fiscal third quarter. Guidance for the current quarter left investors unimpressed and caused a sell-off of its stock.