Nike Loses Mbappé to On as Shares Sit 44% Lower This Year

Kylian Mbappé has left Nike for Swiss sportswear company On, ending one of the more visible endorsement relationships in the company's football business. The departure lands with Nike shares down roughly 43.9% year to date, a decline that has persisted through a management reset and several quarters of inventory and wholesale repositioning.

The company has also reshaped its board. Alexandre Arnault, an executive at LVMH, was appointed a director and granted a sign-on award of restricted shares on September 15. The appointment brings luxury-sector experience onto a board overseeing a brand that has been trying to defend pricing power against both premium entrants and lower-cost competitors.

The next hard data point is October 1, when Nike is scheduled to report first quarter fiscal 2027 results. Until then the share price reflects sentiment on brand momentum rather than reported numbers, and the Mbappé move is being read as a signal about where athlete endorsement value is migrating.