Nike CEO Mark Parker steps down just hours after Under Armour's chief executive leaves his role
- Nike CEO Mark Parker is stepping down from his role as chief executive in January and will become executive chairman of the board of directors.
- Former eBay CEO John Donahoe will replace Parker, Nike said on Tuesday.
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Nike CEO Mark Parker is stepping down from his position as chief executive and will be replaced by former eBay CEO John Donahoe, the company said on Tuesday.
Parker is stepping down, effective January 13, after 13 years as chief executive of Nike and three years as chairman, president, and CEO. He will become executive chairman of the board of directors and continue to work closely with the senior management team, Nike said in a press release.
Nike announced the management shakeup just hours after Under Armour revealed that its founder, Kevin Plank, would be stepping down from his role as CEO. Plank will become executive chairman and brand chief.
Donahoe has been a member of Nike's board since 2014.
He is the president and CEO of ServiceNow, a cloud-computing company based in Santa Clara, California, and the chairman of PayPal Holdings. Before ServiceNow, he was president and CEO of eBay from 2008 to 2015 and the worldwide managing director of Bain & Co. from 1999 to 2005.
"This is an exciting time for Nike where we see brand strength and momentum throughout the world and great opportunity for future growth," Parker said in a press release. "I look forward to continuing to lead the board as executive chairman, as well as partnering closely with John and the management team to help him transition to his new role."
In an internal memo to Nike employees obtained by Bloomberg, Parker said he was "not going anywhere."
"To be clear, I'm not going anywhere," he said, according to Bloomberg. "I'm not sick. There are no issues I'm not sharing. I strongly believe the best way for us to evolve and grow as a company is to bring in a phenomenal talent to join our team who has long been part of the Nike family."
Parker said only two years ago in an internal memo that he planned to remain in his role as chairman and CEO of Nike beyond 2020, according to a report by Sara Germano in The Wall Street Journal.
Parker's surprise departure comes several weeks after reports alleged that the chief executive exchanged emails with the Nike-backed running coach Alberto Salazar and the Nike-sponsored Dr. Jeffrey S. Brown regarding their experiments with performance-enhancing drugs and creams for athletes.
Nike responded to these reports with the following statement to The Wall Street Journal: "At the time Alberto was concerned that Nike runners could be sabotaged by someone rubbing testosterone cream on them. ... Mark was shocked that this could be the case and given Mark's passion for running, Dr. Brown and Alberto made Mark aware of their findings. Mark Parker had no reason to believe that the test was outside any rules as a medical doctor was involved. Furthermore, Mark's understanding was that Alberto was attempting to prevent doping of his athletes."
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