Phil Knight

Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, Inc., and was previously chairman and CEO of the company. As of October 3, 2022, Knight was ranked by Forbes as the 27th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$35.2 billion. He is also the owner of the stop motion film production company Laika. Knight is a graduate of the University of Oregon and Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was in track and field club under coach Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon, with whom he would co-found Nike. Knight has donated hundreds of millions of dollars, to each of his alma maters, as well as Oregon Health & Science University. He has donated over $2 billion to the three institutions. Phil Hampson Knight was born in Portland, Oregon, to Bill Knight, a lawyer turned newspaper publisher, and his wife, Lota Cloy (Hatfield) Knight. Knight grew up in the Portland neighborhood of Eastmoreland, and attended Cleveland High School. According to one source, "When his father refused to give him a summer job at his newspaper [the now defunct Oregon Journal], believing that his son should find work on his own," Knight "went to the rival Oregonian, where he worked the morning shift tabulating sports scores and every morning ran home the full seven miles."