Key Points :

Nike is cutting about 1% of its corporate employees in the course of ongoing restructuring.

Cross-functional teams are leading sports-driven restructuring under the guidance of CEO Elliott Hill.

Nike is unbundling out of Chinese manufacturing for supply chain certainty in the U.S.

Key Background :

Nike's latest corporate reductions in practice are only one aspect of its broader effort to reorganize under CEO Elliott Hill. Nike said it will reduce fewer than 1% of corporate employees, a smaller but more judicious reduction than more significant reductions made last year.

Nike lost nearly 2% of its workers worldwide in February 2024 after laying off more than 1,600 workers. The action was after the demand declined, particularly in its home markets like North America, as well as the increased cost for the company in its business. The prior cuts were an indication of Nike needing to re-shape itself as well as remove wastages.

Through May 31, 2025, Nike employed about 77,800 individuals worldwide in full-time, part-time, and retail jobs. The latest cuts announced come in corporate-level jobs, which bear witness to its interest in removing middle layers of management and maximizing organizational effectiveness. Of special note is that the company made a point of mentioning that the employees based in the EMEA region and Converse employees would not be impacted, which bears witness to its interest in stable and growing markets.

Elliott Hill's plan to reorganize places sport at the central position as the company's guiding philosophy. Nike is restructuring business functions to focus on specific sports categories to enable cross-functional integration and more consumer interaction. The plan aims at restoring Nike's performance-driven innovation leadership and creating stronger brand affinity with athletes and sport consumers.

On the product front, Nike is doubling down on sneakers and running, both of which have been growthy businesses in the past. It is also spending more on mending relations with retail partners and creating more brick and mortar. That mix is poised to counter over-reliance on direct-to-consumer online selling that has been a pain point for the company in years gone by.

The second pillar of support for the strategy is diversification of the supply chain. Nike is deliberately reducing its dependence on Chinese manufacturing to supply U.S. distribution, which it is achieving to diversify tariff risk and trade tensions and gain greater production flexibility. It is doing this as a medium- to long-term restructure to create resilience and lower the exposure to geopolitical risk.

Together, all these initiatives managed cuts, organisational rebalancing, product refocusing, store growth, and supply chain simplification are reflective of Nike's attempt to capture new traction in a hyper-competitive global sportswear industry. While the actual cuts are minimal in number, they are part of broader rebalancing initiatives that are designed to drive sustainable growth and operational health.

About the Author

Ryan Parker

Ryan Parker is a Managing Editor at Business Minds Media.