Philip Knight

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Philip Knight (2010)

Philip Hampson "Phil" Knight (born February 24, 1938 in Portland , Oregon ) is an American entrepreneur and founder as well as former CEO of the US company Nike Inc. and owner of the Laika animation studio .

The economist already designed the successful marketing concept of his future company in his university thesis. With his help, Phil Knight made the Nike Group into one of the world's most important and successful manufacturers of sporting goods since the mid-1960s. Better known he obtained in 1997, when Michael Moore him for his film The Big Macher (The Big One) interviewed. Moore asks him the uncomfortable question why he has shoes made in Indonesia , where a repressive regime is in place.

biography

Professional background

Philip Hampson Knight was born in Portland in 1938 to William W. Knight and Lota Hatfield. After school, Knight took on an economics degree from the University of Oregon , which he graduated in 1959 with a Bachelor of Business Administration . From 1959 to 1960, Knight served as a First Lieutenant in the US Army .

Subsequent studies at Stanford University , California, finished Knight in 1964 as a Master of Business Administration . The master's thesis written for this dealt with the problem of how the German Adidas and Puma dominance on the US sporting goods market should be broken. On this occasion, Knight pleaded for an inexpensive but high-quality competitor offer that should gain a foothold through an intensive marketing strategy.

After completing his master's degree, Knight worked as a chartered accountant in Portland until 1969, where he was also appointed to teach at State University. In 1968 he married Penelope Parks, with whom he has two children and a foster daughter.

Career as Nike boss & board member

Knight founded the shoe distributor Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964 with Bill Bowerman , which made successful sales by importing Japanese running shoes and was renamed Nike Inc. in 1971 . The colorful range of sports shoes gave the company rapid global expansion. After the IPO in 1980, Nike achieved high price increases. At the beginning of the 1990s, Knight's company became the global leader in terms of sales.

The background to the entrepreneurial success of Knight is the marketing strategy already described in his master's thesis, through which Nike repeatedly attracts attention, for example by equipping top athletes. The prominent athletes serve as identification figures for the predominantly youthful and young clientele.

Since 1967, Knight has headed the company himself as president and chairman of the board, which from the mid-1990s had to accept sales losses compared to the Adidas competition.

On December 28, 2005, Phil Knight resigned as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) surprisingly. However, he will remain with the Board of Directors as Chairman. He was succeeded by William Perez , who previously served as CEO of the cleaning products company SC Johnson & Son . In June 2015, Knight announced that he was leaving his position with the company in 2016. His son, Travis Knight, will soon join Nike's board of directors.

Memberships and honors

The entrepreneur belongs to the Republican Party . He was named Most Successful Entrepreneur of the Year in Oregon in 1982. In 1994 and 2003 he was named Advertiser of the Year by the Cannes Lions . In 2012, Phil Knight was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for his contribution to the sport . In 2015, Knight was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

capital

Phil Knight is a multi-billionaire and one of the richest people in the world. On the Forbes 2016 list , his fortune is stated at approximately 24.4 billion US dollars. This puts Phil Knight in 24th place on Forbes' list of the richest people in the world.

literature

  • 2016: Shoe Dog: The official biography of the NIKE founder , FinanzBook Verlag, ISBN 978-3898799928

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Phil Knight takes steps away from Nike; will leave as board chairman. oregonlive.com, June 30, 2015, accessed April 1, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Phil Knight in the Basketball Hall of Fame
  3. ↑ forbes.com: # 24 Phil Knight & family (English)
personal data
SURNAME Knight, Philip
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knight, Philip Hampson (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American founder and CEO of Nike Inc.
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Portland , Oregon