Did Someone From Nike Say the Company Can Afford to Lose ‘MAGA Customers’?

No.

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A quote purportedly from Nike has gone viral on social media.  The posts claim that Nike claims: “We’re a $76 Billion dollar company that can afford to let go of all ‘Make America Great Again’ customers.”

There is no record of anyone associated with Nike ever making such a statement. What’s more, Nike isn’t a $76 billion company by any actual financial metric: according to the company’s 2020 fiscal year SEC filing, Nike’s revenue in the past year was $37.40 billion. (Nike’s fiscal year ended on May 31, 2020.) The $76 billion figure can be reached by adding Nike’s 2020 revenue to its assets ($31.34 billion) and total equity ($8.06 billion). However, revenue refers to the amount of money brought in before expenses and is not indicative of profits. In fiscal year 2020, selling and administrative expenses for Nike were $13.1 billion, and operating overhead expenses were $9.5 billion. All things considered, recent valuations of the company range from $34.8 billion to $32 billion to $39.1 billion. Despite the differences among the numbers, one thing is clear: Nike is not a $76 billion company and nobody affiliated with the company would have likely claimed it is. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    John D. Wright

    Thanks for the fact checks! good stuff.

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  2. Avatar photo
    CynthiaW

    The human psyche's appetite for this kind of thing is fascinating. People never change. Once someone has said Queen Joan is a witch, the accusation is always "out there," just like this garbage.

    (For the record, that's Queen Joan "of Navarre," second wife of King Henry IV of England.)

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    1. JMD

      Not to be confused with Pope Joan, who never existed in the first place.

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    Frank Vergden

    Hey Alec, I don't think your discussion of the value of Nike is factually accurate. While the value of the Nike brand is indeed ca. 30-40 billion, the company's market capitalization is closer to 170-180 billion. See https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/NKE/. A lot of times people colloquially refer to a company as having "X Value" they're talking about market cap. See for instance https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/19/21375223/apple-2-trillion-market-cap-first-us-company-stock-price.

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    Victor Clairmont

    Thanks for the fact check Alec.

    Not a fan of Nike, but no one should lie about a company for something they haven't said.

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  5. JMD

    I'd be willing to bet a large amount of money that the people who share these memes have never bought any of the products they're so desperate to boycott.

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    1. Avatar photo
      John D. Wright

      I never even saw that meme but I am a NeverTrump far right conservative who is boycotting Nike. I don't boycott a lot but I felt Nike went out of their way to offend and attack me. So I just bought Addidas. It's not a big deal. I don't care if a CEO says he is for some policy I disagree with but when you do what Nike did you are wanting to shove my face in it. I just don't buy from people I really don't like.

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      1. JMD

        I don't like Nike products made for my preferred activity, so I don't think I have anything Nike, plus I never buy anything that's not on clearance or marked down considerably. I'm a NeverTrumper, but I love Goya products, grew up in a predominantly Latino neighborhood where they were readily available even when I was a child, and were known for their quality, so I'll continue to buy.

        I feel like most people pay lipservice to boycotts and it's unlikely there's any real impact.

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        1. Joe1776

          I really wish I used to buy Nike products so I could now boycott them! :)

          It is actually an interesting marketing question. If there are say 5 brands competing and you become the social justice champion for say 35% of the consumers while alienating another 35% will you end up ahead?

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