After announcing multiple recent layoffs, Nike plans to cut even more jobs in the coming year as part of its new restructuring plan dubbed “Pace.” The footwear giant is counting on this slew of job cuts to deliver about $2.5 billion in savings through fiscal 2031.
The major workforce overhaul revelation came alongside the company reporting a mixed fiscal first quarter.
Nike reported a net income of $712 million, down 2% from $727 million the year prior, while revenue dropped 4% to $11.21 billion. The retailer noted the brand’s revenues were severely impacted by persistent declines in the China business, where sales fell 26% in the first quarter, despite the Asian market historically being a profit-driver for the athletic firm.
More job cuts coming ahead at Nike
In a memo shared with the company’s employees, Nike Inc’s President and CEO Elliott Hill said that the leadership was announcing changes to the current operating model, aiming to help them accelerate and scale the “Sports Offense and position Nike for long-term growth.”
The chief executive underscored that their aim to become a “more agile, efficient and athlete-focussed company” required an overhaul that would result in fewer roles across Nike.
While it remains unclear which roles will be impacted in the long run as part of the renewed restructuring efforts at the company, the Nike CEO affirmed that decisions about them will begin in calendar year 2027 and beyond.
“I want to acknowledge that news like this creates uncertainty. I don’t take that lightly,” he said in the note to employees, as also seen on the company website. “Throughout this process, we will communicate directly, act with transparency and treat people with respect.”
Chief Operating Officer Venkatesh Alagirisamy told employees in a separate April memo that the company would lay off 1,400 people in global operations (mainly technology) in North America, Asia and Europe as Nike grapples with a years-long sales slump. The workforce cut accounted for a little less than 2% of the global employee headcount.
It served as the company’s second job-cutting effort this year. Similar news devastated hundreds of employees in January. At the time, the sportswear brand unveiled plans to reduce its workforce by 775 employees, while “taking steps to strengthen and streamline our operations so we can move faster, (and) operate with greater discipline,” according to a Reuters report.
Even before those layoffs, the company had already announced a 2% reduction of its jobs, more than 1,600 in total, in February 2024. Another wave of layoffs was greenlit in August 2025, cutting a little less than 1% of the corporate workforce, amid a turnaround strategy following Hill’s appointment as CEO in 2024.
Nike’s expansion includes a new Indian campus
The company’s ‘Pace’ strategy, which Nike says is “not a new” one and “not a reaction to one quarter,” revolves around four focus areas.
In addition to overhauling its work and workforce, the company will be accelerating its supply chain modernisation efforts.
Nike now plans to move to three geographic regions — Americas, Asia Pacific and Greater China (APGC), and EMEA — instead of three. This particular goal will see the APGC leadership team being based in Singapore, while some roles currently supporting the region from Beaverton will move closer to markets and athletes they serve. According to the latest announcement, Nike expects to achieve this formation in FY28.
Additionally, it has laid out plans to open a new campus in Bengaluru, India. Nike has mapped out this particular expansion as a “long-term investment in new capabilities and talent.” Full-time employees in the South Asian hub’s campus will ultimately support operations across the multihyphenate company’s brands Nike, Jordan Brand and Converse.
“Teammates already in India will move in phases, and the campus will grow over the next several years,” the official release added.
Further details about Nike’s next phase of growth and financial plan will be laid out at the company’s Investor Day on November 16-17, 2026. These conversations will continue at the November 18 NIKE Team Meeting (NTM) as well, as the company determines how the ‘Pace’ strategy reinforces its competitive edge in the long run.