Tom GantertBeaverton, OR – Nike shares fell on Friday after the shoe company reported weaker-than-expected sales in North America during its last quarter.
Nike also warned that its revenue growth could slow down during the current fourth quarter, CNBC reported.
Nike shares fell more than 4.5 percent Friday morning, according to CNBC. That was after the company’s stock had closed Thursday at a record high of $88.01, having climbed more than 32 percent of the past 12 months before news of North American sales broke.
Bloomberg reported that Nike had missed sales projections in the third quarter in its home market of North America, which was by far its biggest. Third quarter sales came in at $3.81 billion in the quarter that ended Feb. 28, short of the projected $3.85 billion.
Nike stirred controversy when it selected former National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick for an advertising campaign in September.
The company’s campaign features Kaepernick with the words “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
Kaepernick’s “sacrifice” is an apparent reference to the former NFL player’s inability to get re-hired after voluntarily quitting the NFL.
The “believe in something,” is an apparent reference to Kaepernick calling police officers murderers, and kneeling in protest to the American flag.
The protest later expanded even further to be a protest of President Donald Trump by some after the president spoke out against the protest.
Kaepernick started kneeling on the field during the National Anthem in the pre-season of 2016, protesting the flag over allegations that American police officers are racist killers.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said.
Kaepernick even sported socks depicting police officers as pigs along with his Nike shoes.
The anti-police quarterback opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers after the 2016 season and sat out the 2017 NFL season when no other teams signed him.
His teammate Eric Reid was a vocal supporter of the anthem protests. Reid also didn’t sign again with the 49ers, and became a free agent.
The players then filed a lawsuit against the NFL alleging a conspiracy to keep them out of the game in retaliation for the upheaval caused by the kneeling.
The NFL settled the lawsuit out of court for an amount estimated to be below $10 million.