(Bloomberg) -- Elliott Hill, the newly named chief executive officer of Nike Inc., acknowledged that things have been rough for the world’s largest sportswear brand in his first message to staff on Thursday.
“I know things haven’t been easy, and we certainly have taken our fair share of shots,” Hill wrote in an email to employees.
Hill said he plans to host an all-hands meeting on October 14, his first day back at the company he worked at for decades. He also offered his Nike email address to employees and asked them to send “questions in advance with what’s on your mind.”
In his note, he included a video message in which he offered advice to employees “to move with speed and a sense of urgency.”
Dressed in a black Nike branded-shirt, Hill said that through his more than 30-year career with the company he “learned to always put the consumer at the center of everything and every decision.” Now, he said it was time for employees to “come together, to rally as a team”
Hill rose from intern to president of the consumer unit at Nike, a position he left in 2020. In a surprise announcement on Thursday, the company said Hill would replace longtime CEO John Donahoe.
The company reported disappointing fourth quarter results in June, which included lowering its financial guidance. The earnings prompted the biggest stock decline for the retailer since it had gone public. Under Donahoe’s helm the sportswear giant also embarked on a $2 billion cost cutting plan and cut staff by 2%.
--With assistance from Kim Bhasin.
(Updates with more detail throughout.)
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