Nike Stocks Hit All-Time High After Colin Kaepernick Campaign

LeBron James celebrated with a fiery tweet.

Brandon Friederich

Sep 14, 2018

Colin Kaepernick Ad Promo — Getty Images

Nike stocks hit an all-time high ten days after the sportswear giant launched a controversial campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick.

Shares closed at $83.47 on Thursday evening, marking the highest stock value in the 54-year-old company’s history. Bloomberg has further details on how Nike has fared since taking their partnership with the NFL quarterback-turned-activist public.

[Edison Trends] scanned receipts from more than 200 online retailers (including Nike.com) and found that that Tuesday after Labor Day, for example, the first full day after Kaepernick’s ad went viral, Nike purchases were 22 percent higher than the same day in 2017.

On Wednesday they were 42 percent higher, and Thursday they were 23 percent higher. They remained above 2017 levels through the end of the week.

https://twitter.com/Kaepernick7/status/1037387722107830272

Though Nike stock dipped 3 percent immediately following the Kaepernick announcement, online sales surged 31 percent from the Sunday of Labor Day weekend through Tuesday as some protesters voiced their displeasure by burning their swoosh-embroidered shoes online.

The full impact of the extremely divisive ads celebrating the 30th anniversary of the “Just Do It” slogan likely won’t be realized for some time.

LeBron James, who has a lifetime contract with Nike and once compared Kaepernick to Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali, celebrated the news with a tongue-in-cheek tweet.