Nike Shares Take Hit After Colin Kaepernick Announced as Spokesman

The price of Nike Inc. shares declined by as much as 3.9 percent during Tuesday trading.

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Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid kneel in protest on the sideline. (Michael Zagaris/49ers/Getty)

The day after announcing former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as a spokesman for a new campaign, Nike’s stock is getting sacked.

In early trading on Tuesday, the price of Nike Inc. shares declined by as much as 3.9 percent, the biggest decline in nearly five months.

With shares creeping below $80, Nike was the worst-performing member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average around noon on Tuesday.

Despite the short-term losses, bringing Kaepernick into the fold on a new multi-year contract and making him the face of the “Just Do It” campaign was a calculated risk, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Wall Street Journal.

“Nike’s team recognized that, even with links to the league, that they wanted to be socially conscious and authentic in the spirit of what ‘Just Do It’ meant,” the person said. “Colin was the ideal fit and nobody represents that quite like Mr. Kaepernick.”

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Chen Grazutis adds: “The long-term relationship and a contract that benefits both parties over the next 10 years will likely outweigh any current controversy.”

Despite the plunge, Nike stock still has a year-to-date gain of around 28 percent.

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