Nike on Monday said it will eliminate 775 jobs, mostly at distribution centers in Tennessee and Mississippi.
The announcement comes as Nike works to kickstart sluggish sales, including by cutting layers of management.
The company said the moves will “strengthen and streamline” operations and help it “move faster,” a frequent refrain of second-year CEO Elliott Hill.
The move also is designed to accelerate the use of automation and grow Nike’s bottom line, a focal point of Wall Street analysts.
“We are sharpening our supply chain footprint, accelerating the use of advanced technology and automation, and investing in the skills our teams need for the future,” Nike said in a statement.
Nike has eight key distribution centers in the United States, according to its most recent annual report. Five of them are in the Memphis area.
A spokesperson for Tennessee’s Department of Labor & Workforce Development said it had received notification of a mass layoff from Nike. The information had not yet been posted online.
Nike’s 6,000 employees in Memphis ranked No. 3 on the Memphis Business Journal’s 2023 list of the city’s largest employers.
A spokesperson for Mississippi’s workforce agency didn’t immediately return a message.
Nike has been in a prolonged slump after it bet too heavily on direct sales and retro sneakers under previous CEO John Donahoe, moves which Hill has been working to reverse.
The layoffs are the latest in a series of job cuts.
Last year, Nike said it would eliminate less than 1% of its corporate employees.
In 2024, Nike laid off 740 Oregon workers as part of a 2% cut to its global workforce, part of a $2 billion cost-cutting effort.
In 2023, Nike laid off workers in several departments, including human resources, recruiting and sourcing.
Nike has 72 distribution centers outside of the United States, including in Laakdal, Belgium; Taicang, China; Tomisato, Japan and Icheon, Korea, according to its annual report.
