Nike’s share price has fallen by close to 80 percent since its 2021 peak, and the American sportswear company is now being removed from the S&P 100 index after almost 18 years.
The decline was detailed on September 7, 2026, in reporting by DR. According to DR, Nike’s stock has fallen steadily since 2021, when the price was at its highest. The company is also being taken out of the S&P 100, the index covering the 100 largest American companies.
Revenue has stayed at roughly the same level since 2021, DR reports, while profit has shrunk year after year. DR puts Nike’s profit last year at about 20 billion Danish kroner, noting that money still flows through the business.
Competition and a shift in sales strategy
Per Hansen, investment economist at Nordnet, told DR there are several reasons for the downturn. One is plain competition. As he described it, the field is no longer limited to Adidas and Puma, and rivals that were small or nonexistent in 2021 have taken market share.
DR notes that runners in Denmark increasingly wear shoes from brands such as New Balance, Hoka, On Cloud and Craft. Hansen said Nike rested too much on its classics and assumed it would stay number one in tennis, soccer and athletics. He argued that competitors have been more innovative.
Nike also changed how it sells. According to DR, the company shifted toward selling directly to consumers through its own website and stores, and away from retail partners. Hansen described this as an own goal, saying Nike lost a distribution channel that had been the backbone of the business for years.
Falling sales in China have added to the pressure, DR reports. Hansen said Nike has struggled to hold its market share there, while Chinese private consumption has been under pressure for the past four to five years.
Investors close to capitulation
Hansen told DR that many investors have had enough and are close to capitulating. He described them as exhausted, having lost faith in a short-term turnaround. That loss of confidence is now reflected in the share price, which is relevant for anyone investing in stocks in the index.
Nike has tried to stop the bleeding partly through leadership changes. As reported by DR, Elliott Hill was appointed chief executive after a 32 year career at the company. He started as an intern in 1988 and retired in 2020. John Donahoe held the top job from 2020 until October 2024.
Hansen said the task now is to reinvent the old Nike, and he believes it can be done. Whether it happens in the current quarter, he told DR, remains an open question.
