Nike Founder Phil Knight Pockets Over $1 Billion In Less Than A Month

It's good to be Phil Knight. Today the NY Post reports:

Nike sneaker billionaire Philip Knight is leading the pack in the tycoon cash-out sweepstakes with a $1.05 billion windfall - made in just one month.

The 70-year-old Nike founder has done hundreds of separate stock sales since mid-April, collecting $1.05 billion - well ahead of his $780 million cash-out of shares in 2007. That's the year he placed 14th in Vanity Fair's ranking of windfalls made by the rich from selling stock or family empires.

At Knight's current pace of selling his shares, the one-time track star at the University of Oregon is likely to pass reigning cash-out king Bill Gates, who topped Vanity Fair's windfall rankings last year at $2.8 billion in stock sales.

From the AP:

The co-founder and chairman of athletic footwear and apparel maker Nike Inc. sold 462,900 shares of common stock, according to six Securities and Exchange Commission filings Friday.

In Form 4s filed with the SEC, Philip H. Knight reported he sold the shares on Wednesday for $66.61 to $68.67 apiece.

Insiders file Form 4s with the SEC to report transactions in their companies' shares. Open market purchases and sales must be reported within two business days of the transaction.

Knight gave up the CEO position three years ago.

Comments

[Wanjiru]

...the more pressing question would be, is he married?...

..enquiring, gold-digging minds want to know...

:)

.

[ErnestineBass]

So the man who made a fortune selling $250 tennis shoes is cashing out, eh?

Must be the recession...

What recession?

heh heh

[dgscol]

Yes, but is the man of darkness, still able to run?

[Sundialsvc4]

So he's successful. Very successful. And your point is?

Envy will get you nowhere. His enterprise has sold bezillions of shoes.

[totalliberal]

Slaves picked bezillions of tons of cotton.

[ErnestineBass]

And thousands of Chinese slaves produced Knight's butt-ugly, overpriced shoes.

I'd rather go barefoot.

[landmine]

I'm amazed at the one dimensional ignorance of some of the critics on this post. Why don't you give your knee jerking little mouths a rest and engage your brain for a few minutes. Go to Nike.com and read about all the philanthropy Nike is involved with. Additionally, I don't get a single hint from any of the posts that any of you are nationally competive athletes. If you were, you'd know how supportive Nike has been in this area. Finally, women in sports. In my opinion, no one else has even come close to their committment.
Every critic here can at least type with one finger and that is all you need to do to be able to find out more than the sensationalist MSM drivel you apparently so readily swallow.

[totalliberal]

["Go to Nike.com and read about all the philanthropy Nike is involved with.'}

Don't you just love the way half- billion dollar a year PR firms get the mouth-breathers to believe just about anything? You people are so cute.

[leftLibertarian]

landmine, your beautiful post made me cry manly tears!

[cdnnewsjunky]

Actually you will find more info on slavetradersrus.com

[NoGenius]

the federal government should directly tax the members of the boards of directors and top corporate officers when they take significant profits through cashing out billions of dollars, exercising options, golden parachutes and massive bonuses. go after the oil companies, their boards, their ceo's, cfo's. some of those profits have to be taken back into the world financial system instead of idiots blowing millions on antique umbrella stands and 600 foot yachts. these captains of industry will never notice a change of lifestyle- though they will argue against it anyway.

[RedEyes]

So i guess the "antique umbrella stand" and "600 foot yacht" industries aren't part of the world financial system? The people that sell these items just burn the money up? Get real...yacht makers have to pay for things too...like paying their employees for instance.

This man literally clothes people, and all you can do is bash capitalism. Pathetic.

[totalliberal]

I love Capitalism. Just not unfettered Capitalism. Every human enterprise lives by the laws of man. Why should Capitalists be exempt?

[groucho]

Wow, and he did that while at the same time giving Americans honest jobs. Oh wait, my bad.

[popecorvo]

He gave Americans honest jobs. How thoughtful of him.

Or did he purchase their labor for less than it is worth, and pocket the difference? And quite a difference, n'est pas?

[bola47]

does this mean that the stock is going to tank soon? is he trading on inside information?

[totalliberal]

He would never do that. He is a lesafair capitalist and that would be against the law.
LMAO

[FreedomCorpse]

yep. The US economic collapse in the stock market is right around the corner (sometime after Nov 6, 2008) and he's getting out while the going's good.

[MilwaukeeDan]

Good for Phil Knight, now drop dead. I always saw Nike as a marketing and design company, they don't manufacture anything, never did, the slaves in Asia do that. Phil pays hundreds of millions to thugs, except for Woods, to wear his slave made garbage and shill it to the braindead, hero worshipping masses. Good for you Phil, you and your wealth just exposed what a bunch of morons most consumers are.

[SanFran1]

NB blows

[Chavez08]

It was fun cheering on the consolidation of wealth until we realized the intent of Unchecked Capitalism is to create a disparate two-class system: Gold Palaces and Disease ridden tent cities.

Do you think leaving the market system alone will make it any better? If so, I suggest you read American history. People were hungry, dirt poor and died of common flu bugs until FDR came along and levelled the playing field.

The system you enjoyed, pre-Reagan, was the New Deal - what elitist academics and media propagndists labelled "Socialism" Retirement, living wages, healthcare, vacations, collective bargaining - ALL of them are **Socialist** to the Free Market Crusaders.

I ask that all of you research carefully, be honest, open and thoughtfully ask yourself: "Why is Socialism BAD and Capitalism GOOD?"

[fdanconia]

What does capitalism have to do with "disease ridden tent cities"? All capitalism has done has lifted millions upon millions out of abject poverty, cured many debilitating diseases, spurred a technological revolution, etc. Without capitalism, the wheels of the world stop churning because there is no incentive to create or be innovative. Socialism may level the playing field but it punishes productivity while rewarding slothfulness. Socialism reduces everything to its lowest common denominator and removes all personal responsibility. On the other hand, in a capitalistic system, the sky is the limit; you're free to succeed and you're free to fail. By the way, FDR's policies prolonged the Depression by encouraging unionization, instituting the social security tax, and regulating production in order to keep prices and wages high. Not to say that some of those policies aren't good by themselves but the timing was awful. Defense spending during WWII is what ended the Depression. There's just so much wrong with your post but I don't have the space here to refute. Care to debate any?

[cdnnewsjunky]

So your an expert when it comes to socialism. Where did you get all this experience from? America? Oh ya, a bastion of social policies, a model to the rest of the world.

I'm guessing the only thing you know about socialism is what Rush told you!

[fdanconia]

I'm basing my model of capitalism on America. The country where millions of people are literally risking their lives to gain entry and take advantage of our economic opportunities. I'm afraid I can't say the same for countries like Cuba or Venezuela. I don't listen to Rush. I have a degree in economics, however, all you need is common sense to realize that socialism does not work. Also, if you want to debate me, please come prepared with facts.

[ChristianEcon.com]

"Socialism may level the playing field but it punishes productivity while rewarding slothfulness."

Yeah, Phil Knight worked 20,000 times harder than the average police officer or teacher this year. Working Americans are just so incredibly slothful and unproductive. Danged socialism!

"There's just so much wrong with your post but I don't have the space here to refute."

Try refuting one for starters. Mystical religious proclamations don't count, believe it or not.

[fdanconia]

Well, for starters, I have refuted the common notion that FDR's social policies ended the Depression. I have also given examples of accomplishments of capitalism. I also never said that American workers are slothful. Last I checked, we do not live in a socialist country. What I am saying is that socialism encourages and rewards non-productivity. Phil Knight worked his ass off and is now reaping the rewards of innovation. If he did not expect his hard work and initiative to pay off he would not have spent countless hours making shoes with a waffle iron and going store to store trying to get people to believe in his product. His marketing genius paid off when he got Michael Jordan to wear his shoes. And yes, I will bet you anything that for much of his career he did work much harder than most people. Now he is on cruise control. Got anything else?

[awcbuddy8]

Because socialism allows laziness to prosper and imagination to wane. Nobody is going to go to eight years of medical school to be paid the same as a janitor. Their will be no point in getting a good education since you will get money anyway. Only through capitalism can somebody better themself socially and econmically.

FDR didn't level anything. He created the CCC and that's about it. America was in the Depression until WWII.

Socialism is in itself quite evil.

[cdnnewsjunky]

Another American talking about a system, you don't have a clue about, other than what Rush tells you!

[awcbuddy8]

Originally started by 18th-19th century philosophers who wanted to form socialist-utopian society. Wanted to essentially disregard past lives and focus on the collectivity of the small society.

I'm not a radio person.

[ChristianEcon.com]

You people are so funny posting this nonsense under an article that lays waste to all your baseless claims.

[awcbuddy8]

Then get rid of your computer because you're not being very productive posting on a blog.

[wolfgangmo]

Errrr. Um. Ah. ...

[crickets]

... It just is! OK!

[wm1066]

None of that is my money. I have never bought Nike. Never liked thier business model.

[luckyoldson]

Yeah, whenever you buy stock or running shoes, etc...always consider their business model...especially when it's so overwhelmingly successful and profitable.

Their stock has gone from about $28 five years ago...to $67 today.

HORRIBLE "business model."

[apduncan1]

Indeed... what is wrong about paying miserable wages to some third world country peasant and sell the shoes for an arm and a leg?

[FreedomCorpse]

yep. Why pay an American factory worker $15/hr with benefits when these lovely companies can simply fire American workers and pay $45/mth to the folks in vietnam whom 21,000 walked off the job because rice went up 5 cents a lb and they couldn't feed their families anymore.

[totalliberal]

Can anyone say raising the capital gains tax.

[awcbuddy8]

Socialism. There you go.

[cdnnewsjunky]

Another thing you can add to your very long resume of "Things you know nothing about but won't stop me from pontificating about". Congrats!

[fdanconia]

And pray tell, what do you know about the capital gains tax. Do you know that it is not indexed for inflation which often results in a negative return for the investor? Do you know that if rich people don't invest in capital we won't be able to increase our capital stock in this country which increases the marginal product of labor which increase wages? Do you know that if you increase the capital gains tax, people who invest in capital (rich people) will just spend their money on vacations or tuck it under the mattress? Do you even know what capital is? Inflation? Investment (hint: it doesn't mean the stock market)? No, of course not, you just say what Keith Olbermann tells you to say.

[TocinoHumano]

Talk about socialism! I was at the supermarket the other day. I bought three huge baskets full of gourmet and imported foods. The guy in line in front of me had a loaf of white bread and a gallon of 2% milk. And they made me pay MORE than they made him pay! That's socialism for you!