Nike is being removed from one of Wall Street’s most exclusive large-company benchmarks after a punishing decline erased nearly four-fifths of the sportswear giant’s value from its 2021 peak.
Published at 6:05 p.m. EDT
It is not, however, being removed from the S&P 500.
That distinction is essential because social media posts and recycled headlines have incorrectly said Nike will be expelled from the S&P 500. The official September rebalancing notice from S&P Dow Jones Indices says Nike will be deleted from the S&P 100 before U.S. trading opens on September 21, 2026. Nike remains a member of the broader S&P 500.
The S&P 100 change is still a remarkable symbolic demotion for a company that spent nearly 18 years among the index provider’s most prominent blue-chip names. Nike shares traded at $38.10 late Tuesday, according to current market data, down about 0.8 percent for the session. Compared with the stock’s 2021 record territory, the decline is approximately 78 to 79 percent, depending on whether the comparison uses intraday, closing or adjusted historical prices.
An 80 percent decline is therefore a reasonable rounded description. Saying Nike is leaving the S&P 500 is not.
What S&P Dow Jones Indices actually announced
S&P Dow Jones Indices published the changes on September 4 as part of its quarterly rebalance. Dell Technologies, Palo Alto Networks, Arista Networks and Sandisk will enter the S&P 100. Nike, Honeywell Aerospace, Simon Property Group and Colgate-Palmolive will leave it.
The same announcement lists an entirely separate group of S&P 500 changes. Bloom Energy, Everpure and Illumina will join the S&P 500. Molson Coors Beverage, The Trade Desk and Builders FirstSource will be removed from that index and transferred to the S&P SmallCap 600.
Nike does not appear among the S&P 500 deletions.
The confusion likely arose because the S&P 100 is a subset of the S&P 500. A company must be in the S&P 500 to qualify for the S&P 100, but removal from the smaller index does not automatically mean removal from the larger one. Nike is leaving the narrower group while retaining its place in the benchmark followed by trillions of dollars in investment funds.
That is not a minor technicality. S&P 500 membership affects far more passive investment money and carries broader public recognition. A removal from the S&P 500 could force funds designed to track that index to sell Nike shares. The announced S&P 100 deletion creates a smaller and more specialized flow effect, primarily involving products and derivatives linked to the S&P 100.
Nike also remains listed on the New York Stock Exchange. An index deletion is not a stock-market delisting, bankruptcy event or prohibition on trading.
Why Nike is leaving the S&P 100
S&P Dow Jones Indices said the quarterly changes are intended to make each index more representative of its market-capitalization range. Its methodology describes the S&P 100 as a group of 100 companies selected from the S&P 500. Generally, the largest S&P 500 companies with listed options are considered, with sector balance also playing a role.
Nike’s shrinking market value made its continued membership more difficult to justify as technology and digital-infrastructure companies grew larger. At Tuesday’s quoted price, Nike’s market capitalization was about $56.4 billion. That remains a substantial public company, but it is far below the valuations of the largest U.S. corporations that increasingly dominate capitalization-weighted indices.
The replacements tell their own story. Dell, Palo Alto Networks, Arista Networks and Sandisk represent computing hardware, cybersecurity, networking and data storage. Their arrival reflects the market’s increased concentration around artificial intelligence infrastructure, cloud systems and the equipment required to build modern data centers.
Nike’s removal does not mean the index committee has declared its products irrelevant or its turnaround impossible. It means the company no longer fits as well within a benchmark intended to represent a narrower group of the largest and most established S&P 500 companies.
Index composition follows market reality. It does not create that reality from nothing.
A collapse years in the making
Nike’s share decline began long before the September index announcement. The stock reached record levels in 2021, when pandemic-era demand, digital growth and investor enthusiasm supported a valuation that assumed durable expansion.
That confidence deteriorated as Nike struggled with product balance, inventory, wholesale relationships, digital strategy and competition. The company’s decision to emphasize direct-to-consumer sales weakened ties with some retail partners at the same time that newer brands gained attention in running and lifestyle footwear. Hoka, On, Lululemon, Adidas and domestic Chinese competitors challenged parts of Nike’s market position.
The Greater China business became a particularly visible weakness. Reuters reported that the region accounts for about 15 percent of Nike’s annual revenue and is its third-largest market after North America and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Nike has faced declining traffic, heavy discounting, excess inventory and stronger local competitors there.
Nike’s fiscal 2026 third-quarter report showed the strain. Nike Direct revenue fell 4 percent on a reported basis and 7 percent on a currency-neutral basis. Nike Brand Digital declined 9 percent, Nike-owned stores fell 5 percent and Converse revenue plunged 35 percent. Gross margin contracted by 130 basis points to 40.2 percent, with the company attributing much of the pressure to higher tariffs in North America.
The full fiscal year provided a more complicated picture. Nike reported a 20-basis-point increase in annual gross margin to 42.9 percent. Its fourth-quarter gross margin rose sharply to 49.2 percent, but reporting by the Financial Times said the quarter benefited substantially from a tariff refund. Greater China revenue still fell sharply, while Nike’s direct business remained under pressure.
These are not the characteristics of a completed recovery. They are the mixed signals of a company trying to stabilize after strategic mistakes and a loss of market momentum.
Elliott Hill’s turnaround has not yet won over Wall Street
Chief Executive Elliott Hill returned to Nike with a mandate to restore the company’s sports identity, rebuild wholesale partnerships and accelerate product innovation. His strategy has emphasized performance categories, athlete-centered marketing and a reset of digital channels that had become too dependent on promotions.
The approach makes strategic sense. Nike’s brand was built through sport, product design and cultural storytelling, not merely through controlling where every shoe was sold. Rebuilding wholesale distribution can return the brand to stores where consumers compare products and discover competitors. Reducing discounts can protect prestige and margins, even when the transition reduces near-term sales.
The problem is timing. Turnarounds in footwear do not happen at the speed of an investor presentation. Products must move from design to manufacturing and retail. Marketing must create demand without relying on constant markdowns. Retailers must regain confidence that Nike can deliver both desirable products and disciplined inventory.
At the same time, Nike cannot pause the competitive market while it repairs itself. Rivals continue signing athletes, releasing products and capturing shelf space. In China, local brands have improved design, distribution and cultural relevance. In running, consumers have become more willing to try specialist brands with distinct cushioning technologies and community identities.
The S&P 100 removal is therefore a judgment about Nike’s current scale relative to other companies, not a final judgment about Hill’s strategy. If the turnaround restores revenue growth, margins and investor confidence, the company’s market value can recover. Index committees can add companies again when their size and representation warrant it.
What the deletion means for Nike shareholders
For most long-term shareholders, the immediate mechanical effect should be smaller than an S&P 500 removal would have been. Funds tracking the S&P 100 will need to adjust their portfolios around the effective date. Options and other products connected to the index may also require changes.
The S&P 500 is the much larger benchmark for passive investment. Since Nike remains in it, ordinary S&P 500 index funds are not being instructed by this rebalance to sell the company. Investors who own broad-market funds may therefore continue holding Nike indirectly.
Short-term trading can still become volatile. Index changes often create anticipated buying in additions and selling in deletions as funds prepare to match new constituent weights. Some market participants trade ahead of those flows, which can move prices before the official effective date.
But the lasting value of Nike shares will be determined by the business, not by the S&P 100 label. Investors will be watching revenue growth, product demand, market share, gross margin, China performance, inventory levels and the pace of the wholesale recovery.
The index decision matters because it reflects how dramatically Nike’s relative market standing has weakened. It does not itself explain whether the stock is now cheap, whether earnings have reached a bottom or whether the turnaround will work.
The 80 percent claim needs context
Percent-decline headlines can be deceptive without a starting point. Nike’s drop is measured from an extraordinary 2021 peak, when the stock traded near $180 on an unadjusted intraday basis and lower on certain adjusted or closing-price series. With shares near $38, the loss is close to four-fifths.
An approximately 79 percent decline requires a gain of roughly 376 percent to return to the starting value. That mathematical imbalance is why severe drawdowns are so difficult to recover from. A stock that falls by half must double to break even. One that falls by nearly four-fifths must multiply several times.
The figure also does not mean Nike lost 80 percent of its revenue, stores or consumer recognition. It measures the decline in the market price assigned to each share. That price reflects earnings, expected growth, risk, interest rates and the valuation investors are willing to pay.
Nike remains a global sportswear company with tens of billions of dollars in annual sales. The market is not pricing it as a disappearing enterprise. It is pricing it as a damaged incumbent facing a difficult and uncertain rebuild.
A symbolic demotion with a precise meaning
Nike’s exit from the S&P 100 closes a chapter that began nearly 18 years ago and captures a dramatic reversal in corporate prestige. A company once treated as an unquestioned blue-chip growth brand is being replaced in the elite index as technology firms rise and its own valuation contracts.
The correct story is significant enough without exaggeration.
Nike has fallen roughly 78 to 79 percent from its record territory. It is being removed from the S&P 100 on September 21. It will remain in the S&P 500, remain in broad index funds that track the S&P 500 and remain publicly traded under the ticker NKE.
Those facts describe both the severity and the limits of the setback. Nike has lost a prestigious seat, not its place in America’s primary large-cap benchmark. Its greater challenge is not the index committee’s decision. It is proving that one of the world’s most recognizable brands can again create the growth, product energy and financial performance required to earn back the valuation it surrendered.
Reporting and interview disclosure
This article contains original analysis and fact-checking by Karla Alvarado based on the official S&P Dow Jones Indices announcement and methodology, Nike financial disclosures, current market data and reporting from Reuters and the Financial Times.