Those famous words came from Michael Jordan, widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time.He was also the athlete most responsible for transforming Nike from a shoe company into a global sports empire.Michael Jordan's famous sneakers quote haunts Nike as the brand exits the S&P 100 after a stunning $200 billion collapse tied to left-wing politics.
(Getty Images)Jordan made the comment during the 1990 U.S.Senate race in North Carolina, after his mother urged him to support Democratic candidate Harvey Gantt and record a public-service announcement.
Jordan confirmed in ESPN’s "The Last Dance" that he made the remark jokingly on a team bus.Maybe so.But the line endured because it captured a basic business lesson in four words.
Republicans buy shoes.Democrats buy shoes.
Most companies benefit when both groups want to buy theirs.Nike stopped listening.FROM COLIN KAEPERNICK TO DYLAN MULVANEY, NIKE'S DECADE OF LEFT-WING ACTIVISM HAS FINALLY CAUGHT UP TO ITAfter spending much of the past decade injecting left-wing politics into its brand, Nike is now set to be removed from the S&P 100, ending a run of nearly 18 years in the blue-chip index.S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the move Friday, and Nike will come out before trading begins Sept.
21.S&P isn’t kicking Nike out because the index committee hated the Kaepernick ad or saw Dylan Mulvaney in a sports bra.Nike is getting kicked out because its value collapsed.The politics didn’t wipe out $200 billion by itself.
But Nike volunteered to alienate customers while it was already losing ground everywhere else.Michael Jordan famously said that "Republicans buy sneakers, too" and it seems like Nike forgot that.(WireImage)The sports apparel giant reached a market value of approximately $281 billion near its November 2021 peak.
Nike shares closed Tuesday at $38.10, giving the company a market capitalization of roughly $56.5 billion.The stock was about 79% below its Nov.
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