Star power: An elite athlete roster has helped Nike's rise

1/13/24 7:00PM

Out of the Woods‍

‍Nike's long-running partnership with Woods exemplified the boldness of the company's marketing model: go all out to ensure that the biggest present and future stars are wearing the famous logo — the golfer hadn't even hit a ball as a professional when he signed with Nike in 1996 — no matter the bill… which, in Tiger’s case, came to at least$500 million through the years, propelling Woods to become 1 of only 4 billionaire athletes.

‍Running with the stars

‍In 1964, Phil Knight and his track coach Bill Bowerman started Blue Ribbon Sports; 7 years later, that company rebranded to become the Nike that we know today, making a fresh start with what might be the best $35 ever spent on designing anything, anywhere — paid to graphic design student Carolyn Davidson for creating the famous swoosh.

That logo didn't carry much weight until it became associated with the performances of the very best athletes in the world. But, by the time Nike signed Tiger Woods in 1996, the company was well accustomed to dealing with the biggest names in sports. In fact, Nike’s first dance with star power came 24 years earlier when it signed Ilie Năstase in 1972, the first of many major tennis players to join the brand (later signing John McEnroe, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, and Rafael Nadal, to name but a few).

Not many like Mike

‍The fledgling retailer may have dipped its toe in the star-brand partnership via tennis and athletics, but it was the historic partnership with the Chicago Bulls’ third pick in the 1984 NBA draft, Michael Jordan, that truly elevated Nike to new heights. This deal flipped the script (and later became a script in the 2023 drama Air) on what a partnership could look like, leading to the creation of the multi-billion dollar Air Jordan brand — a line that, to this day, continues to bring in small-country-GDP levels of sales (coming in at more than $6 billion last year).

With a blueprint for success, Nike wasted little time in securing the biggest names in the biggest sports to wear the swoosh into competition, eventually extending beyond individual athletes. As of today, Nike holds the prestigious position of being the NBA's uniform sponsor, and top-tier soccer teams such as FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and the US national sides all proudly don swoosh-laden kits, banking the millions, and sometimes billions, that come with a Nike sponsorship deal.

Tom Jones

hut’s off

Yum! Brands might have found a potential buyer for Pizza Hut

Yum! is in exclusive talks with private equity firm LongRange Capital about a sale, per reports.

Hyunsoo Rim

hot dogs & half tanks

Costco’s gas stations are breaking records as drivers seek cheaper fuel

Higher prices have pushed many members to the retailer’s pumps for the first time.

Max Knoblauch5/29/26

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones5/29/26

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.