Nike’s stocks fully recover after Kaepernick ad

Nike’s share prices have fully recovered after taking a hit following its announcement that Colin Kaepernick would be the face of its latest ad campaign.

Nike share prices were trading at $82.96 on Tuesday morning, higher than the $82.20 at which it was trading the session before the company made its announcement about Kaepernick on Sept. 3.

The stock had dipped below $80 after the announcement.

The former quarterback was the first NFL player to protest racial inequality and police brutality by taking a knee during the national anthem before games.

The New York Post estimated Nike had lost $3.3 billion in market value after the announcement, though it recovered that as share prices rebounded.

{mosads}Nike’s “core customer wants them to take a stand on social issues,” Matt Powell, vice president and senior industry adviser for The NPD Group, told The New York Post.

Data released from Edison Trends, a digital commerce research company based in Silicon Valley, last week also showed the brand’s sales surged shortly after the announcement.

According to the research company, online sales for the sportswear brand grew 31 percent from last Sunday through Tuesday. 

The report also found that the growth was a 17 percent gain over the number recorded for the same period in 2017. 

The signing of Kaepernick generated backlash from critics of the protest movement. President Trump, a frequent critic of the protests during the anthem, also spoke out against the ad campaign.