Feb 9 (Reuters) – Nike-owned Converse brand’s employees were instructed to work from home this week as the sportswear giant makes strategic changes to recapture sales growth, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing a memo.
The changes include new roles and team moves for some staff, according to the note from Aaron Cain, Converse’s chief executive officer, the report added.
Nike’s shares were down nearly 2% in afternoon trading.
Nike had laid off 775 employees, impacting distribution center roles in Tennessee and Mississippi, in a bid to boost profits and accelerate its use of automation, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters in late January.
The company, currently facing business struggles, is trying to reestablish itself as the world’s leading sportswear brand after losing market share to rivals. It has undergone several rounds of layoffs in recent years.
In August last year, Nike cut a little less than 1% of its corporate workforce as part of its turnaround efforts under CEO Elliott Hill, who took over the top job in 2024. It had previously announced it would cut 2% of its jobs — more than 1,600 in total — in February 2024. Meanwhile, Converse had previously cut jobs as part of its parent company’s cost-savings plan in May 2024.
Nike declined to respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Neil J Kanatt and Koyena Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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