Shoe Dog

Knight continues waging his war against United States Customs and the bureau-kraken. In an ingenious move, he decides to create a new shoe, which he sells at incredibly low price. He deliberately makes the shoe cheap because he knows the market will have to accept the shoe as a competitor and lower the total import price Nike has to pay. Additionally, Knight starts running advertisements slamming the U.S. government for their role in persecuting Nike.

On top of everything else, Nike files an antitrust suit that says its competitors deliberately lobbied to enforce the import law because they knew it would hurt Nike and only Nike. Knight and his team believe this move is an unfair business practice and that the United States government is allowing it to go unchecked. In response to Nike’s aggressive actions, the bureau-kraken has to start genuinely rethinking his position.

Eventually, the bureau-kraken and his people offer Nike a deal. If Nike pays the government $9 million, then they will call it even. When Knight hears the deal, he does not want to take it. He thinks it is grossly unfair that he should have to pay any money given that Nike did not do anything wrong in his eyes. However, everyone around Knight urges him to take the deal because it will save Nike and it is likely the best deal he is going to get. Begrudgingly, Knight pays the $9 million and finally puts the entire saga behind him.

Now that he no longer has to worry about Nike’s debts, Knight once again thinks about going public. If he does go public, Knight plans to issue two different kinds of stock, one which would go to the people at Nike, and one which would go out to the public. Splitting the company up this way ensures that Knight and his people will never lose control of Nike. When Knight explains this idea to his board, they unanimously vote that Nike should go public.

Shortly after this vote, Knight gets a letter from the Chinese government asking him to come visit their factories. Knight goes to China and takes Chang, Strasser, and Hayes with him. After touring China, Knight makes a deal with the Chinese Ministry of Sports. According to the deal, the Chinese Olympians competing in 1980 will all wear Nike shoes and clothes. Additionally, Knight makes a deal with the Ministry of Foreign Trade, which allows Nike to use two Chinese factories to manufacture their shoes. This is the first time in 25 years that an American shoe company has managed to get a deal in China.

When Knight returns to America, he sets his sights on making Nike a publicly traded company. He goes through all of the proper protocols and fills out the necessary paperwork, which he hands in to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Then, in September of 1980, he announces his plans to the public. After the announcement, he takes Johnson with him across the country to promote Nike’s stock, which will soon hit the market.

In collaboration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Knight decides Nike will go public on December 2, 1980. The only thing left for Knight to do is set the stock price. In order to do so, Knight has to negotiate with the firm he hired to oversee the process. The firm insists it is in Nike’s best interest to enter the market at a rate of $20 per share. However, Knight believes $20 per share is much too low and insists on $22 per share instead. When the firm sees Knight will not budge, they accept his price.

After finishing the deal, Knight goes home and tells Penny about his success. She is not surprised—she knew Knight would get his price. After talking to Penny, Knight puts Matthew and Travis to bed. Then, he thinks about how much money he is about to make. After running the numbers, Knight realizes that his net worth will be roughly $178 million.