Nike Class B: The Power of the Swoosh

Explore how a waffle iron and a $35 logo created a global empire, and why Nike's dual-class stock keeps the Knight family in control.[INTRO]ALEX: In 1971, a graphic design student named Carolyn Davidson was paid exactly thirty-five dollars to design a logo for a fledgling shoe company. The founder, Phil Knight, looked at her sketch of a curved checkmark and said, "I don't love it, but maybe it'll grow on me."JORDAN: Wait, are you telling me the most famous logo in history—the Swoosh—was essentially a thirty-five-dollar 'it’s okay, I guess' moment? ALEX: That’s exactly what I’m saying. Today, that logo is the face of Nike, Inc., a company so powerful it literally has a two-tier stock system to make sure the founders never lose their grip on the wheel.JORDAN: So when people buy Nike 'Class B' stock on the stock market, they aren't actually the ones calling the shots? Let’s get into how one family keeps a multi-billion dollar empire on a leash.[CHAPTER 1 - Origin]ALEX: To understand why Nike Class B stock—ticker NKE—exists the way it does, we have to go back to 1964. It wasn't even called Nike then; it was Blue Ribbon Sports, founded by a track coach named Bill Bowerman and his student, Phil Knight.JORDAN: I’m guessing they weren't exactly corporate titans yet? ALEX: Hardly. Phil Knight was literally selling Japanese running shoes out of the trunk of his Plymouth Valiant at track meets. Bowerman, meanwhile, was the mad scientist of the duo, obsessed with making shoes lighter and faster.JORDAN: I’ve heard about the kitchen appliance incident. Is that real?ALEX: Totally real. In 1974, Bowerman looked at his wife's waffle iron and had a 'eureka' moment. He poured liquid urethane right into the iron to create a rubber sole with a grip unlike anything else on the market. That "Waffle Trainer" changed everything and proved they weren't just distributors—they were innovators.JORDAN: So they have the tech and the logo, but when does it become the massive public entity we know today?ALEX: That happens on December 2, 1980. This is the birth of the Class B stock. When Nike went public, they set up a dual-class structure. Class A shares stayed with Phil Knight and his inner circle, giving them the power to elect 75% of the board. Class B shares were sold to the public, allowing them to own a piece of the profit, but with significantly less voting power.[CHAPTER 2 - Core Story]ALEX: Once the IPO gave them the cash, Nike went on a legendary run of 'cultural gambling.' Their first big bet? A rookie basketball player named Michael Jordan in 1984.JORDAN: Calling Michael Jordan a 'gamble' sounds insane now, but I guess he hadn't won anything yet.ALEX: Exactly. They gave him a 2.5 million dollar deal when that was unheard of for a rookie. When the NBA banned his red-and-black shoes for violating uniform codes, Nike didn't back down. They paid his fines and ran ads saying the NBA couldn't stop *you* from wearing them. JORDAN: That’s brilliant. They turned a dress code violation into a rebellion. ALEX: It’s the Nike playbook: find a narrative and lean in hard. They did it again in 1988 with the 'Just Do It' slogan. But it wasn't all highlights and victory laps. By the 1990s, the company hit a wall of massive public backlash over labor conditions in Southeast Asia.JORDAN: Right, the 'sweatshop' era. That nearly destroyed the brand’s image, didn't it?ALEX: It was a defining crisis. Protests rocked their stores. This is where that Class A control matters—Phil Knight didn't have to fear a hostile takeover during a bad quarter. Instead, he steered the company through a total overhaul of their supply chain transparency, which set the standard for the industry later on.JORDAN: But they didn't stop being provocative. I remember the Colin Kaepernick ad from a few years ago. People were literally burning their shoes on Twitter.ALEX: People were furious, and the stock dipped initially. But because the Knight family essentially controls the board through those Class A shares, they could ignore the short-term noise. Online sales actually jumped 31% right after that ad. They knew their audience better than the critics did.[CHAPTER 3 - Why It Matters]ALEX: Today, Nike isn't just a shoe company; it’s a tech and data company. Under current CEO John Donahoe, they’ve cut out the middleman. They used to rely on stores like Foot Locker, but now they’ve slashed those partnerships by half to sell directly to you through their own apps.JORDAN: So the Class B investors are basically betting on Nike’s ability to own the entire relationship with the customer, from the app to the sneaker to the metaverse?ALEX: Spot on. They even bought a virtual sneaker company called RTFKT to sell NFTs. They are betting that one day, your avatar will want to wear a swoosh as much as you do. The Class B stock is the public's way of riding along with a company that has proven it can survive everything from labor scandals to culture wars.JORDAN: It seems like they’ve managed to stay the 'cool kid' for fifty years, which is almost impossible in fashion.ALEX: It’s because they don't just sell shoes; they sell the feeling of being an athlete. Whether it’s a kid in a park or LeBron James, that emotional connection is what keeps the stock price moving.[OUTRO]JORDAN: What’s the one thing to remember about Nike Class B?ALEX: It’s the public's ticket into a global empire that is billionaire-controlled, narrative-driven, and obsessed with staying at the center of the cultural conversation. That’s Wikipodia — every story, on demand. Search your next topic at wikipodia.ai