James' Shoe 'Decision' Isn't Costing Nike (NKE) Any Sales
Tweet
Share
E-mailGet Alerts NKE Hot Sheet
Join SI Premium – FREE
Is LeBron James Nike's (NYSE: NKE) best/worst sponsoree?
The WSJ commented Friday that James -- the four-time NBA MVP -- has worn his $200+ Nike LeBron 11 basketball sneakers just a few times since the season started. In about 18 games, James has laced-up the new kicks just twice, said the report.
On two occasions, James started with the 11s, only to switch to the old shoes about halfway through the game.
James' manager, Maverick Carter, said that the hoops star is still making tweaks to the shoes and plans to sport them full-time within a few weeks.
Is James' decision really costing Nike that much?
NPD research notes that Nike and its Jordan brand garnered about 92 percent of the $3 billion basketball shoe industry as of last week. James contract with Nike is estimated at $15 million per year and we suspect that his decision to not wear the 11s is saving Nike some money.
But, James' star power is still shining. Through last week, sales of the 11s are up 18 percent and revenue is up 35 percent due to a slight price increase. It wasn't made immediately clear what overall sales projections for this year might be so there's no way to gauge whether those sales numbers are ahead of or behind expectations.
Shares of Nike are up about 1 percent Friday.
The WSJ commented Friday that James -- the four-time NBA MVP -- has worn his $200+ Nike LeBron 11 basketball sneakers just a few times since the season started. In about 18 games, James has laced-up the new kicks just twice, said the report.
On two occasions, James started with the 11s, only to switch to the old shoes about halfway through the game.
James' manager, Maverick Carter, said that the hoops star is still making tweaks to the shoes and plans to sport them full-time within a few weeks.
Is James' decision really costing Nike that much?
NPD research notes that Nike and its Jordan brand garnered about 92 percent of the $3 billion basketball shoe industry as of last week. James contract with Nike is estimated at $15 million per year and we suspect that his decision to not wear the 11s is saving Nike some money.
But, James' star power is still shining. Through last week, sales of the 11s are up 18 percent and revenue is up 35 percent due to a slight price increase. It wasn't made immediately clear what overall sales projections for this year might be so there's no way to gauge whether those sales numbers are ahead of or behind expectations.
Shares of Nike are up about 1 percent Friday.
Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!
You May Also Be Interested In
- Wells Fargo analyst sees deepening troubles for Western brands in China
- Axogen prices $208.7M stock offering to fund BioCircuit acquisition
- Parallel49 Equity to sell 2.3M shares of CPI Card Group stock
Create E-mail Alert Related Categories
Insiders' BlogRelated Entities
S3Sign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!
