Apple CEO Tim Cook secures three million dollars in Nike shares

Tim Cook, the chief executive officer of tech firm Apple, has snapped up shares in Nike valued at around three million dollars, nearly doubling his stake in the US sportswear giant.

An SEC filing showed that Cook, who has served on Nike’s board since 2005, secured 50,000 shares at 58.97 dollars each, bringing his number of shares to 105,000, as of December 22.

The move has been hailed as one of the largest open-market purchases of Nike stock by a director or executive of the company, an analyst at Baird Equity Research told Reuters.

With this, Cook seems to inadvertently endorse ongoing turnaround efforts led by Nike CEO Elliott Hill, despite weaker quarterly earnings reported earlier in the month.

For Q2, Nike saw a marginal uptick in revenue to 12.4 billion dollars, with the company’s wholesale segment leading the way. The Greater China region, however, recorded its sixth consecutive quarterly drop, with revenue falling 17 percent, highlighting a structural disconnect with local consumers.

Since stepping into the helm as CEO, Hill has broadly enacted his ‘Win Now’ strategy with a focus on refreshing product pipelines, cutting legacy lifestyle lines and returning to the brand’s sports roots.

In Nike’s most recent earnings call, Hill said the company was in the “middle innings” of a comeback, further emphasising that efforts were also going towards realigning teams and strengthening wholesale partner relationships.