Phil Knight founded Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964 with his former track coach Bill Bowerman to sell running shoes out of the back of his mini van. Blue Ribbon Sports became Nike Corporation in 1976 and grew to be one of the largest shoe and clothing companies in the world, hitting $6.5 billion in revenue by 1996. Although Knight was criticized for labor practices in Nike factories overseas, he worked to improve regulations and Nike became known for major endorsement deals with star athletes like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Kobe Bryant. Knight retired as Nike's CEO in 2004 but remained chairman and still owns 20% of the company, making him one of the richest Americans.

1. Phil Knight
By
Ayanda Ntombela

2. Knight’s Background
 Born in Oregon
 Graduate of University of Oregon
 Ran track for four years
 Went to Stanford grad. School of
business

3. The Start
 Distribution deal in Kobe, Japan for Tiger
running shoes after college
 Teamed up with former track coach Bill
Bowerman to create Blue Ribbon Sports
(1964)
 Sold sneakers out of mini van at track meets
 Made $3,240 in its first year

4. Nike Accomplishments
 Blue Ribbon Sports became Nike
Corp.(1996)
 Hit $6.5 billion (with a $550 million in
income)
 One of the biggest shoe/clothing
companies in the world

5. Small Downfall
 Knight was named a corporate crook in Michael
Moore’s book Down Size This
 The book exploited the harsh labor in the Nike
sweatshops in Indonesia
 Knight made sure there were better regulations in
this factories.

6. Nike Endorsements
 Michael Jordan : Biggest endorsement
 Tiger Woods (Golf)
 Kobe Bryant (Basketball)
 Derrick Jeter (Baseball)
 Michael Vick (Football)

7. Retirement
 Knight retired as Nike’s CEO in November
2004
 He retained his position as chairman of the
board
 Only owns 20% of company now
 Knight became Forbes
24th richest American in
2009