Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938), is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, Inc., and was previously chairman and CEO of the company. As of July 23, 2020, Knight was ranked by Forbes as the 26th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$39.2 billion. He is also the owner of the stop motion film production company Laika.
He was born as Philip Hampson Knight on February 24, 1938, as the son of lawyer turned newspaper publisher William W. Knight, and his wife Lota. His father was a domineering though caring person who encouraged his son to push his limits.
The Nike founder ran track as a student at Cleveland High School in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. He loved running from a young age and was a key member of the track team.
A middle-distance runner, he continued his track career at the University of Oregon, which is now known for its flashy and ever-changing Nike football uniforms.
He went to the University of Oregon (UO) in Eugene where he continued running. There he met the legendary track coach Bill Bowerman under whom he trained as a middle-distance runner. Eventually Knight struck up a deep and meaningful friendship with Bowerman. He graduated with a journalism degree in 1959.
Knight was confused about his future even after his graduation and unsure of what he actually wanted to do. He enlisted in the army and completed a year of service.
He decided to enroll in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. One of the courses he studied was Frank Shallenberger’s small business class which he found very interesting.
While working on an assignment in which the students had to invent a new business, Knight came up with the blueprint for a business dealing in sports shoes. He wrote a paper titled ‘Can Japanese Sports Shoes Do to German Sports Shoes What Japanese Cameras Did to German Cameras?’ and realized that the purpose of his life was to create a business dealing in shoes. He graduated with a MBA in 1962.
While at Oregon in the late 1950s, Knight and track coach Bill Bowerman shared discontent with the quality of running shoes. In 1964, they founded Nike as Blue Ribbon Sports.
Nike (founded by Phil Knight) wasn’t always the swoosh brand that we all know and love. Before, it was known as Blue ribbon sports. It was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman, a track-and-field coach at the University of Oregon, and his former student Phil Knight. They opened their first retail outlet in 1966 and launched the Nike brand shoe in 1972. The company was renamed Nike, Inc., in 1978 and went public two years later. By the early 21st century, Nike had retail outlets and distributors in more than 170 countries, and its logo a curved check mark called the “swoosh” was recognized throughout the world.
Knight has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to each of his alma maters, as well as Oregon Health & Science University. He has donated over $2 billion to the three institutions.