Becoming Nike | Going Public | 3

Business Movers

Wondery

History, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Phil’s attempt to grow his company lands Nike in the crosshairs of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a crisis that propels Phil toward a monumental decision: taking his company public.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business movers add free on Amazon music, download the app today.
0:23.5	It's a Friday afternoon in May 1975 at a Nike factory in Exeter New Hampshire.
0:29.5	Nike executive Jeff Johnson sits in his office with a phone pressed to his ear.
0:34.5	He waits for another member of the Nike ranks, Carol Fields, to pick up at the company's headquarters on the other side of the country.
0:41.5	Carol is Nike's financial controller.
0:43.5	It's her job to balance the books, and today, Jeff needs Carol's help to solve a big problem with payroll.
0:50.5	Hello, Carol speaking.
0:52.5	Carol is Jeff.
0:53.5	Glad to read you.
0:54.5	Jeff, what's the problem?
0:56.5	Well, I've had workers bang on my door all afternoon. They're paychecks of bounds.
1:00.5	They bounced.
1:02.5	We should have plenty of money in the account.
1:05.5	Well, apparently we don't.
1:07.5	And look, I know we run our cash flow tight.
1:10.5	I've lost count the number of times they've nearly cut off the power here.
1:13.5	But we can't have payroll checks bouncing like this. It's not fair to our workers.
1:17.5	Well, I agree, but we should have money in that account. I just deposited a big sales check.
1:23.5	Well, something's going on. Look, I bought some time telling the workers it's just a simple clerical error.
1:28.5	But can you find out what's really going on and then fix it?
1:31.5	Well, hold on. I'll look into it right now.
1:34.5	Jeff waits while Carol digs through a pile of papers.
	...

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