Is John Donahoe the Right Choice for Nike's CEO?

Retail
Written By Rick Watson

Now that the dust has settled for a few minutes on the #Nike John Donahoe announcement, time to pose an existential question.

Is Nike a digital organization that happens to sell shoes, or is it a shoe company with some technology assets?

With how quickly the market moves, if you are not transforming you are dead. Let's review a few major eBay-related Donahoe decisions:

  • He made more than 40 acquisitions during his time at eBay. Some are being spun out now sure (some quaint now - shopping - others related but not core: Stubhub), but how many CEOs have the same level of experience?

  • He was CEO of both eBay and Paypal for 10 years, which gives him a perch into digital payments for a long time as well. I thought this was an interesting angle.

  • During the Donahoe era, eBay was a leader in a massively growing new field: mobile eCommerce. Ahead of every single one of its rivals. This is something I recall as one of the pillars of his time there.

  • During his time, John and the Board made the decision to spin out Paypal which for investors was either going to happen or be forced to happen by an activist later anyway.

Put it this way, if Nike has a company full of shoe experts to help, and is also in desperate need of a digital transformation - an intriguing choice.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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