Phil Knight Puts 20 Million Shares Of Nike Stock Into Three Trusts

Knight Puts Nearly One-Quarter Of His Stake In Nike Into Three Trusts

Nike Chair PHIL KNIGHT "has kicked into serious estate-planning mode," and last week "gave 20 million shares of his company's stock, worth about $1.32[B], to three trusts in his name," according to Brent Hunsberger of the Portland OREGONIAN. According to Nike's filing with the SEC, the person overseeing the trusts is PAT KILKENNY, who served as the Univ. of Oregon (UO) AD when Knight donated $100M to the athletics department in '07. The filing "does not say who ultimately will benefit from the trusts." Estate-planning attorneys said that the move is a "common way wealthy individuals pass on their fortunes to heirs while reducing their tax liability and still earning income from the assets." Knight, who will turn 72 in February, has sold Nike stock on a "fairly regular basis in the past, including about 5 million shares in October." But this is his "largest single move, representing nearly one-quarter of his stake" in Nike. Knight "still owns 65 million shares worth about" $4.3B (Portland OREGONIAN, 12/31).

KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR: In Portland, John Canzano wrote of Knight, "Love him or loathe him, you can't ignore that [UO] could not sustain what they've done over the past decade in conference play without Knight. His influence is valuable, and significant and Oregon certainly wouldn't be in position to strike again in a BCS game in the near future without his continued support." Knight has "contributed the biggest share of the money" for the school's $90M Autzen Stadium expansion, his name is on the campus library, and his late son Matthew's name "will go on the Ducks basketball arena, which was made possible by a $100[M] pledge from Knight." Nike has been "out front with uniform design and marketing, giving Oregon a unique competitive edge" (Portland OREGONIAN, 1/1).