Phil Knight is Oregon's wealthiest person, worth $25.8 billion on the 2026 Forbes 400 list published Wednesday, Sept. 16.
The 87-year-old Nike co-founder's Beaverton headquarters anchors the local economy.
The ranking arrives as the company Knight built continues to shrink its workforce.
Nike remains the largest company based in Oregon, but it has cut thousands of jobs over four consecutive years of layoffs, including 1,400 announced in April.
Knight and Coach Bill Bowerman started the company in 1964, selling Japanese running shoes from the trunk of a car at track meets. Nike went public in 1980 and employs 77,800 people globally as of its most recent annual report.
About 10,500 of those workers are based at the Philip H. Knight Campus in Beaverton, according to Greater Portland Inc.'s March 2026 major employers list. That figure is down from more than 11,000 before the layoff rounds began, according to Nike's company page.
The shrinking headcount has rippled through the local economy. Median home values in Beaverton fell more than 2% in the 12 months through spring 2026, even as values elsewhere in Oregon rose, according to a CityFall analysis. Nike's fiscal year 2025 revenue dropped 10% to $46.3 billion, and net income fell 44%, the same analysis found.
The losses hit hard locally. State economist Damon Runberg flagged the stakes in May 2024, when Axios Portland reported on an earlier round of cuts. Workers in Nike's sector in Washington County earned an average of $148,000 a year. "Losing higher-wage workers is a big deal, as they account for a disproportionate share of discretionary spending," Runberg told Axios at the time.
Still, Knight's fortune is flowing back into the region. One day before the Forbes list dropped, he and his wife Penny committed $1.1 billion to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center and Providence Heart Institute, KGW reported. The gift will fund Oregon's first hospital dedicated to women's health and support cardiovascular treatments for roughly 63,000 patients a year.
"We're proud to invest in teams that will change what's possible for communities across Oregon and beyond," Knight said in a statement announcing the gift on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
Nike CEO Elliott Hill renamed the Beaverton headquarters the Philip H. Knight Campus in October 2025, calling it a tribute to the co-founder's legacy. The 400-acre campus opened in 1990 and includes more than 75 buildings.
Knight co-founded what became Nike in 1964 and stepped down as president in 2004. He left the board chair role in 2016 and serves as chairman emeritus. The Knights have contributed $200 million to Providence Heart Institute over the past decade, on top of the new $1.1 billion commitment.
