Nike says that it's planning to lay off 755 employees, as the shoe and apparel giant looks to double down on automation and cut costs at its distribution facilities.

CNBC reports that the newly-announced layoffs will be in addition to 1,000 corporate role cuts that were announced in mid-2025, and will largely be focused on distribution center jobs in Tennessee and Mississippi. In a written statement, Nike said that the layoffs are being made to "reduce complexity, improve flexibility, and build a more responsive, resilient, responsible and efficient operation."

"We are sharpening our supply chain footprint, accelerating the use of advanced technology and automation, and investing in the skills our teams need for the future," the company added.

This shift arrives as a response to a strategy from former Nike CEO John Donahoe, who sought to prioritize stores and websites over wholesale partners, and increase staffing at the company's distribution centers. But without the volume needed to support that uptick in staffing, Nike saw its sales slow and its margins narrow, forcing it to clean out old inventory and shift the balance back toward wholesale partners. That contributed in large part to the retailer's 32% year-over-year dip in net income for the second quarter of 2025.

Nike has increasingly looked at automation as a way to get its operations back in line with demand. While the company hasn’t put a dollar figure on the savings tied to the latest cuts, it has said that relying more on automated systems and fewer, more efficient distribution centers should help it move inventory faster, and avoid the kind of overcapacity that have weighed on results over the past year.