Apple CEO Tim Cook’s other job: helping Nike turn things around

A new iPad lineup wasn’t the only thing on Tim Cook’s mind when he introduced the tablets from Apple Inc.’s California headquarters in May. The hint was on his feet: a pair of one-of-a-kind sneakers designed on an iPad just for Cook, by Nike Inc.

Cook, Apple’s chief executive officer and the longest-tenured member of Nike’s board of directors, was helping guide co-founder Phil Knight and Executive Chairman Mark Parker through the world’s largest sportswear company’s toughest year since he joined in 2005. Two months before the new iPad release, Nike warned that sales would fall as demand for its sneakers faded due to competition from upstart labels. During the first half of this year, layoffs hit the shoemaker’s offices.

Months after the iPad launch, Cook helped advise on the handling of a leadership shake-up. John Donahoe, the former eBay Inc. boss who Cook had once endorsed for the top job at Nike, retired after just four years in the role. Cook then helped secure Elliott Hill, a Nike veteran who came out of retirement, as the company’s new CEO.

Over the past 19 years, Cook has carved out a role as one of Nike’s closest outside advisers and is the company’s lead independent director. During his tenure, he’s been a sounding board on issues ranging from China to technology operations to appointing key new executives, according to current and former Nike and Apple employees. They declined to be named discussing sensitive corporate matters.

Now Cook, through his director position, is helping steer Nike through its biggest upheaval in decades. Sales fell 10% last quarter and the company withdrew its full-year guidance, hoping to wipe the slate clean for Hill. It pushed back an investor day scheduled for November to give more time for the new CEO to devise a turnaround strategy, which Cook and his board peers will need to approve.

When Cook joined Nike’s board in 2005, he was still chief operating officer of Apple and the right hand to Steve Jobs. At the time, the two companies were nearing their first partnership — the creation of a pedometer sensor placed in the bottom of a Nike sneaker that would send your fitness data to an iPod. Knight was thrilled to welcome him and his tech expertise, declaring Cook “a great asset.”

At the time, Apple had just started formal development of the iPhone and was on the cusp of becoming the juggernaut it is today. As COO, Cook was in charge of Apple’s dealings with partners and suppliers, the Mac division, customer service and support and, with Jobs in and out of medical leaves, day-to-day operations of the company. Jobs stepped down in August 2011, and Cook was named CEO.

In 2016, Knight, then in his late 70s, retired as Nike’s chairman and gave the role to Parker, a shoe designer and company lifer. Cook then became more involved as lead independent director, and he’s currently the company’s compensation committee chair.

These days, Apple and Nike are close partners on the Apple Watch, with the duo selling co-branded models since 2016 that feature unique straps and watch faces. Nike also offers its own set of fitness features that Apple Watch users can install on their devices. Before the debut of the Apple smartwatch, Cook was known as a FuelBand user, a Nike-developed precursor to today’s more formidable wearables that was discontinued months before the Apple Watch unveiling in 2014.

As Cook ascended in his career, he and Knight grew closer. In a talk at Stanford, Knight called Cook a “great collaborative leader.” He also penned a Time 100 profile of Cook in 2021, saying the Apple CEO is “able to think tactically and strategically in an industry far different from his own.” Years later, Cook casually recommended Knight’s memoir Shoe Dog to pop star Dua Lipa on her podcast.

Nike had been a stable, growing business for most of Cook’s board tenure, and leadership overhauls were rare. That all changed in 2019 when disappointing financial performance and a slew of sexual harassment allegations against Parker’s subordinates upended the then-CEO’s tenure. Parker was not implicated and is executive chairman today.

In an effort to modernize e-commerce operations, Nike tapped Donahoe as its new chief executive. The former eBay leader had a decadeslong relationship with Knight — but also called upon Cook as an ally. The Apple CEO advised Donahoe on how to deal with activist investors like Carl Icahn and Elon Musk at eBay about a decade ago. At Nike, Donahoe referred to Cook as a mentor and sounding board.

Cook’s presence was noted by employees at Nike’s world headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, who said that the Apple CEO would occasionally drop design suggestions for retail stores and encourage the company to focus on core products and not saturate the market. That’s in line with the long-term strategy at Apple under both Jobs and Cook. Unsurprisingly, Cook also opined on efforts within Nike’s online technology operations.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, Nike stumbled into China controversies that Cook had some experience on, given that China is Apple’s supply chain base and one of its most important markets. Cook has dealt with his fair share of controversies in the region, spanning from conditions at suppliers to alleged violations of labor laws.

As Nike invested in revamping its digital ecosystem in China, including its online shop, apps and applets on WeChat, executives in Nike’s tech division would often quote Cook’s strategy of following the law in the regions it operates in.

Last month, when it came to evaluating CEO candidates, Hill earned the support of Cook. A former intern who worked his way up the Nike organizational chart over three decades is out of retirement and now in charge, fitting the Cook strategy at Apple of keeping executives who are experts in the company’s culture around as long as possible. Knight thanked Cook for his efforts.