As the stock price of sportswear maker Nike, once considered a blue-chip company, continues to decline, it is also set to be removed from the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 100 index.

According to Forbes and The Economic Times on the 7th (local time), Nike's stock price stands at $38.4 per share, plunging 78% from its peak in 2021.

Its market capitalization has shriveled to $57 billion (approx. 76.7 trillion won), about a quarter of the $264 billion recorded at the end of 2021.

Nike was once a company that boasted an unrivaled position in the sportswear industry, but it has increasingly been pushed aside as Adidas recovers market share and emerging premium brands like On and Hoka grow.

According to Reuters, Nike's share of the global athletic footwear market dropped from 25.9% in 2022 to 22.9% last year.

Sluggish performance in the Chinese market also played a part.

In China, consumers favoring premium athletic footwear brands are shifting to On and Hoka, while local brands are simultaneously targeting consumers with low prices.

As a result, sales in the Chinese market, which used to account for 15% of annual revenue, fell for eight consecutive quarters.

Looking at the most recent fiscal year performance, sales in the North American market increased by 5%, but sales in the Greater China region decreased by 13%, even excluding currency exchange factors.

On top of this, uncertainties remain that tariffs and trade disputes will negatively impact the business.

Amid this situation, S&P announced that it will remove Nike from the S&P 100 index on the 21st.

The S&P 100 is an index tracking 100 blue-chip companies in the U.S. stock market, and Nike had been included in the index for 18 years.

This S&P 100 index change reflects traditional retail companies being pushed out while technology companies dominate the stock market.

Dell Technologies, SanDisk, Palo Alto Networks, and Arista Networks are scheduled to be newly included in the S&P 100.

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