Valued at $34.7 billion, the founder of Nike, Phil Knight, retired as chairman in 2016. A track runner himself, Knight would eventually found Blue Ribbon Sports with Bill Bowerman in 1964, which was the precursor to sports behemoth Nike.
In the late 1990s, Knight became involved with the successful animation company Will Vinton. After the company began to struggle, Knight acquired it outright in 2003 and rebranded it as Laika. Knights’s son, Travis, enjoyed some success as a music artist before joining Laika and working on notable animation projects such as Coraline, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls. Travis serves as Laika’s current president and CEO, in addition to sitting on the board of directors of Nike, Inc.
A noted philanthropist, Phil Knight has donated over $2 billion to educational institutions and is ranked 26th on Forbes List of Billionaires for 2019.
