Hey, I’m not looking for an endorsement myself here but I will take the title of Winning Time: The Rise of the Laker’s Dynasty fangirl. I pause here to tell you to get to at least the sixth episode and come back.
Depicted in Episode Six is a scene between Magic Johnson and Nike co-founder Phil Knight that is said to have taken place in 1979. In this scene, Knight offers Magic competitive stock in NIKE with a custom line of shoes. A ledger showed that Magic could have made 5.2 billion dollars by now.
The figures in this scenario are in dispute. But, what we do know is that the 18-cent stock price Magic was shown to be offered did not actually debut until 1980, when Magic was already two years into a deal with Converse. Nike was not even public in 1979, but neither Phil Knight nor Nike have commented on the inaccuracies of the show.
Figures aside, cash offers were way more favorable to a 19-year-old boy, who did not understand stock. Still, Magic jokes in the press that he regrets passing up on this Nike deal and maybe he should have put his faith in them over Converse.
“Boy, did I make a mistake,” Johnson said in a 2017 interview with Ellen DeGenerous, “I’m still kicking myself. Every time I’m in a Nike store, I get mad. I could’ve been making money off of everybody buying Nikes right now.”
But, Converse was founded in 1908 and Nike was founded in 1964 so, 1979 Johnson thought he was following the money. Yikes!
Come 2001, Converse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to unmanageable debt. Chapter 11 is perhaps the most complicated form of bankruptcy but simply, it allows a company to just restructure and stay in business. To keep themselves on their feet, Converse had to turn to a third party And I think that third party can be accredited for Converse mid-2000s rise in popularity.
Nike, the one and only, acquired Converse in 2003 as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Since then, Nike has owned 100% of Converse stock. Today, NIKE, Inc. has 54 wholly-owned subsidiaries, meaning they own 100% of the stock of 54 other companies; making them the parent company of Converse and well 53 others.
So while The Rise of the Laker’s Dynasty may have kicked off the Magic news, it’s the rise of Nike that deserves airtime.
Nike didn’t give up on basketball stars; in 1984 they agreed to pay $250,000 upfront to Micheal Jordan and create him a personal sneaker line. That infamous Air Jordan line just reached its 37th anniversary; now the long history of Nike Air Jordans can be simplified to three syllables: Pow-er-house.
The real Phil Knight knew what he wanted and went after it: a major shoe company that redefined the American sneaker market and a basketball ‘GOAT’ to help him get there.
So, if you finally got to episode six and find yourself feeling bad for the poor Nike salesman and shouting “just do it” to Magic, know that everyone turned out okay (and rich) in the end.
Legally Beau Monde 