Nike CEO Elliott Hill received $36 million in cash and stock incentives in his first full year leading the company, 746 times what Nike paid its median worker.
The figure comes from The Oregonian's annual survey of executive pay, published Sunday, Oct. 4. Nike's median employee earned $48,695.
Hill, who became CEO in October 2024, collected the payout while the Beaverton-based sportswear company's stock has fallen sharply. Shares dropped 53% since Hill took over and 79% from their November 2021 all-time high of $179.10, according to The Oregonian.
Nike was removed from the S&P 100 index on Sept. 21, though it remains in the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The Oregonian reported that Nike did not respond to a request for comment on its executive compensation practices. Most of Hill's payout is tied to stock performance and a turnaround that has not materialized, the newspaper noted. Shareholders approved the company's executive compensation plan at Nike's annual meeting on Sept. 8.
The compensation disclosure landed the same week Nike announced its "Pace" restructuring program on Thursday, Oct. 1. The company reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of $11.2 billion, down 4% from the prior year and below analyst expectations. Nike's stock fell nearly 10% in after-hours trading following the earnings report, according to The Oregonian.
Shares have not recovered.
Pace targets $2.5 billion in cumulative savings through fiscal 2031, according to a Nike press release. The plan includes a new campus in India, condensed sales regions and an unspecified number of job cuts starting in 2027. Some Beaverton employees who serve the Asia Pacific region will relocate overseas, KOIN reported, with moves expected to begin in fiscal year 2028.
"This work will result in fewer roles across Nike, and I want to acknowledge that news like this creates uncertainty," Hill said in a Thursday, Oct. 1 statement. "I don't take that lightly."
Portland councilors propose CEO pay-gap tax expansion
The pay survey also arrives as Portland City Council members weigh a major expansion of the city's CEO pay-gap tax. Portland was the first city in the nation to tie business taxes to CEO pay.
Two councilors, Mitch Green and Angelita Morillo, proposed the "Fair Share Tax" on Sept. 23. Their plan would raise the surcharge to 25% for companies with a CEO-to-worker pay ratio of at least 50-to-1. The rate would scale to 500% for ratios of 500-to-1 or greater, according to The Oregonian's coverage of the proposal.
The current surcharge is 10% for companies with a ratio of at least 100-to-1 and 25% for those at 250-to-1 or above. It has generated about $5 million a year on average since 2017. Green and Morillo estimate the expanded version would bring in about $72 million annually for Portland's general fund while cutting taxes for roughly 18,000 small businesses.
Portland Metro Chamber president and CEO Andrew Hoan pushed back, saying councilors "haven't even posted an ordinance or reached out to impacted stakeholders."
The proposal faces opposition. It is scheduled to go before the council's Finance and Governance Committee on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Nike's world headquarters sits in Beaverton, not Portland, and whether the company is subject to the city's business license tax is unclear. The tax debate, however, reflects broader regional scrutiny of executive pay at a time when Beaverton's largest private employer is cutting costs and jobs.
Nike plans to host an investor day at its Beaverton headquarters Nov. 16 and 17.
