Nike Announces FY26 Results Amid Brand Turnaround

Nike has released its 2026 fiscal earnings following a year marked by a brand repositioning. 

Earnings were slightly higher than Wall Street prediction, but the company has not seen significant growth. Full year revenue was US$46.4bn – 2% down on a currency neutral basis. Its fourth quarter revenues were US$11bn, down 1%. Wholesale revenues were up 4%, mainly due to growth in North America and offset by declines in China. 

These turnaround efforts have been led by Elliott Hill since joining the company in late 2024 – with the company focusing on shifting its marketing strategy away from generalised campaigns to more sport-specific micro communities that lean on storytelling. 

“In fiscal 2026, we took decisive actions to strengthen the foundation of NIKE, Inc. and reposition our business for long-term growth,” says Elliott Hill, President and CEO of Nike. “We made meaningful structural improvements to lay the groundwork for our Sport Offense across our team culture, innovative product, brand strength and how we serve consumers in our countries and cities. 

“While we continue to face top-line headwinds, we're encouraged by progress in performance product and are focused on consistent execution, improved profitability and scaling our wins to realise our full potential.”

Nike’s marketing pivot

In the fourth quarter of 2026, Nike lowered its demand creation expense by 4% due to a lower brand marketing expense, with Elliott sharing on a call to investors that the company is “out front rewriting our marketing playbook”.

This can be seen in the company’s recent FIFA World Cup 2026 marketing strategy, which was created to display the company’s love for football through authentic, localised expressions of football culture.

The company’s ‘Rip the Script’ campaign features footballers such as Kylian Mbappé, Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland “acting on instinct” to create a more authentic and less scripted campaign that promotes a love of football.

“We made this film to meet football communities exactly where they are, not just on a screen, but in their world and deeply ingrained into their subcultures,” says Helena Thornton, VP of Nike Brand Management. “We didn’t want to follow the traditional marketing playbook. We wanted to give them something worth talking about, worth clipping, worth wearing, worth showing up to. A story they don't just watch – one they can make their own. That’s the whole idea behind our universe of Nike Football.”

‘Win Now’

This shift is part of a wider turnaround strategy launched by Elliott. Called ‘Win Now’, the company is accelerating innovation in core sports, rebalancing its direct-to-consumer sales and reorganising its teams in order to reverse declining sales and accelerate product innovation. 

The company also announced plans to cut around 1,400 jobs in April 2026 as part of this strategy, which were set to most significantly impact its technology department. 

“We have been taking deliberate steps to strengthen our foundation, sharpen how we compete and build a model designed to deliver long-term profitable growth,” Venkatesh Alagirisamy, Chief Operating Officer of Nike, said of the layoffs.

At its core, these shifts are about building a Global Operations organisation that is more focused, more integrated with the business and better built for the pace of sport.”