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https://www.barrons.com/articles/nike-co-founder-phil-knight-gives-more-than-900-million-to-charity-01602281392
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Nike co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Phil Knight donated more than $900 million to the Knight Foundation, which he established in 1997 with his wife, Penelope.
Knight, 82, donated 7.25 million shares of Nike Class B stock to an unnamed charity late last month, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this week. The stocks were valued at $900.8 million at the time of donation, when the stock price stood at about $124 per share.
The Knight Foundation was the beneficiary of the donation, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. A call to the foundation was directed to Nike, where a spokesperson said that Phil Knight would not be commenting.
Nike’s Class B stock has been surging as the company’s earnings are benefiting from a trend to work out at home. The publicly traded Class B stock has risen approximately 29% year to date, closing at $130.98 per share on Friday.
According to the SEC filings, Knight now owns 3,335,687 Class B shares in a personal account in addition to 31.4 million Class A Nike shares as of July 17. He has a net worth of $44 billion, by Forbes’s estimates.
The Knight Foundation, based in Beaverton, Ore., had more than $2.1 billion in assets at the end of 2018, according to its most recent tax filings. The foundation serves as the Knights’ charity vehicle.
Most of the Knight and his wife’s large donations through the foundation have been directed to the University of Oregon, Knight’s alma mater. Since 2007, they have donated at least $800 million to the university, mainly supporting scientific research and athletic programs, according to published reports.
Additionally, the foundation has donated $725 million to Oregon Health & Science University since 2008 for cancer research. The Knights have also donated more than $505 million to Stanford University, where Phil Knight earned an MBA from the business school in 1962, according to published reports.
Knight stepped down as Nike’s chairman in June 2016. His memoir, Shoe Dog, detailing the building of the brand, was released in the same year.
