Ad Age: Some 13 months after his ballyhooed replacement of the legendary Phil Knight, Nike CEO William Perez has stepped down after clashing with Mr. Knight over the direction of the world’s biggest sneaker and apparel company.
Mr. Perez, who resigned as CEO of S.C. Johnson & Sons last year to take over at Nike, said in a statement that he and Mr. Knight “weren’t entirely aligned on some aspects of how to best lead the company’s long-term growth. It became obvious to me that the long-term interests of the company would be best served by my resignation.”
In his own statement, Mr. Knight said: “Succession at any company is challenging, and unfortunately the expectations that Bill and I and others had when he joined the company a year ago didn’t play out as we had hoped.”
Nike brand co-president Mark Parker — who has been with the company for 26 years and was long considered a potential successor to Mr. Knight, Nike’s chairman — will take over as CEO.
