Phil Knight pumps another $400 million of Nike stock into a trust
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg
Phil Knight, chairman and co-founder of Nike Inc., listens during a panel discussion at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., U.S., in January.
Phil Knight[5] has created yet another trust to hold a giant slab of Nike[6] stock.
The Nike Inc. co-founder this week put more than $400 million of Nike stock into a new trust, according to a securities filing made late Thursday[7].
It was the third such trust Knight created this year, according to a search of securities filings.
In March, Knight put roughly $650 million of Nike stock into a similar trust[8]. In January he created a trust to hold more than $600 million of Nike stock[9].
Each of the trusts is a grantor retained annuity trust which provides Knight an annual payment and helps him reduce taxes on gifts to beneficiaries.
"He's putting god-awful amounts of money into these trusts," said Ronald Shellen[10], an estate attorney and partner at Miller Nash. "He puts the stock in and he's in essence making a gift, probably to his children."
Knight has two living children, Travis and Christina, according to a 2009 story in The Oregonian[11] about other trusts created by Knight.
Knight's son Matthew died in a 2004 diving accident and is survived by a wife and two sons.
The beneficiaries of Knight's trusts aren't disclosed.
Knight declined to comment.
Thursday's securities filing also shows Knight withdrew more than $300 million of Nike stock from a similar trust he created in 2009. He replaced the stock with "property having equal value."
Shellen said that could mean Knight wants to pass cash, not stock, to his heirs and beneficiaries.
Knight owns more than 75 percent of Nike's powerful Class A stock, the holders of which select three quarters of the company's board.
Class A shares aren't traded publicly, but can be converted to the company's Class B shares which trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
Matthew Kish covers banking, finance, footwear/apparel and higher education.
References
- ^ Matthew Kish (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ Twitter (twitter.com)
- ^ Google+ (plus.google.com)
- ^ Phil Knight (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ Nike (www.bizjournals.com)
- ^ securities filing made late Thursday (www.sec.gov)
- ^ roughly $650 million of Nike stock into a similar trust (www.sec.gov)
- ^ $600 million of Nike stock (www.sec.gov)
- ^ Ronald Shellen (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ 2009 story in The Oregonian (www.oregonlive.com)