Balance Sheet: Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity

The balance sheet provides creditors, investors, and analysts with information on company resources (assets) and its sources of capital (its equity and liabilities). It normally also provides information about the future earnings capacity of a company assets as well as an indication of cash flows that may come from receivables and inventories.

Liabilities represents obligations of a company arising from past events, the settlement of which is expected to result in an outflow of economic benefits from the entity.

Nike Inc., consolidated balance sheet: liabilities and stockholders’ equity

US$ in millions

	May 31, 2026	May 31, 2025	May 31, 2024	May 31, 2023	May 31, 2022	May 31, 2021
Current portion of long-term debt	2,000)	—)	1,000)	—)	500)	—)
Accounts payable	3,600)	3,479)	2,851)	2,862)	3,358)	2,836)
Current portion of operating lease liabilities	478)	502)	477)	425)	420)	467)
Sales-related reserves	1,589)	1,834)	1,282)	994)	1,015)	1,077)
Compensation and benefits, excluding taxes	1,569)	1,245)	1,291)	1,737)	1,297)	1,472)
Dividends payable	618)	598)	563)	529)	485)	—)
Allowance for expected loss on sale	—)	—)	—)	—)	397)	358)
Other	2,316)	2,239)	2,595)	2,469)	3,036)	3,158)
Accrued liabilities	6,092)	5,916)	5,731)	5,729)	6,230)	6,065)
Income taxes payable	377)	669)	534)	240)	222)	306)
Current liabilities	12,547)	10,566)	10,593)	9,256)	10,730)	9,674)
Long-term debt, excluding current portion	5,942)	7,961)	7,903)	8,927)	8,920)	9,413)
Operating lease liabilities, excluding current portion	2,613)	2,550)	2,566)	2,786)	2,777)	2,931)
Deferred income taxes and other liabilities	2,443)	2,289)	2,618)	2,558)	2,613)	2,955)
Non-current liabilities	10,998)	12,800)	13,087)	14,271)	14,310)	15,299)
Total liabilities	23,545)	23,366)	23,680)	23,527)	25,040)	24,973)
Redeemable preferred stock	—)	—)	—)	—)	—)	—)
Common stock at stated value	3)	3)	3)	3)	3)	3)
Capital in excess of stated value	15,158)	14,195)	13,409)	12,412)	11,484)	9,965)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	(141)	(258)	53)	231)	318)	(380)
Retained earnings (deficit)	(155)	(727)	965)	1,358)	3,476)	3,179)
Shareholders’ equity	14,865)	13,213)	14,430)	14,004)	15,281)	12,767)
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	38,410)	36,579)	38,110)	37,531)	40,321)	37,740)

Based on: 10-K (reporting date: 2026-05-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2025-05-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2024-05-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2023-05-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2022-05-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2021-05-31).

The financial position of the entity exhibits a notable shift in the composition of its liabilities and a significant restructuring of shareholders' equity over the analyzed six-year period. While total liabilities remained relatively stable, fluctuating between 23.3 billion and 25.0 billion US$, there is a clear migration of debt from long-term to short-term obligations.

Liability Structure and Debt Migration: A consistent downward trend is observed in non-current liabilities, which decreased from 15.299 billion US$ in 2021 to 10.998 billion US$ in 2026. This is primarily driven by a reduction in long-term debt, which fell from 9.413 billion US$ to 5.942 billion US$ over the same period. Conversely, current liabilities showed a general upward trajectory, rising from 9.674 billion US$ in 2021 to 12.547 billion US$ in 2026. This shift is highlighted by the current portion of long-term debt, which reached 2.0 billion US$ by 2026, indicating an increasing volume of debt maturing within the next twelve months.
Shareholders' Equity and Retained Earnings: Shareholders' equity demonstrated volatility, closing at 14.865 billion US$ in 2026 compared to 12.767 billion US$ in 2021. A critical observation is the deterioration of retained earnings, which declined from a surplus of 3.179 billion US$ in 2021 to a deficit of 727 million US$ in 2025, before slightly recovering to a deficit of 155 million US$ in 2026. This erosion of retained earnings was offset by a steady increase in capital in excess of stated value, which grew from 9.965 billion US$ in 2021 to 15.158 billion US$ in 2026, suggesting that equity growth was driven by capital infusions rather than organic profit accumulation.
Operational Liabilities and Reserves: Accounts payable exhibited a general increase, rising from 2.836 billion US$ in 2021 to 3.600 billion US$ in 2026, suggesting an expansion in credit utilization from suppliers. Sales-related reserves showed significant fluctuation, peaking at 1.834 billion US$ in 2025 before declining to 1.589 billion US$ in 2026. Accrued liabilities remained relatively stable throughout the period, hovering around the 5.7 billion to 6.0 billion US$ range.
Overall Solvency and Capitalization: The total liabilities and shareholders' equity remained within a range of 36.5 billion to 40.3 billion US$. The balance sheet indicates a strategic or forced transition toward a more short-term liability profile and a reliance on contributed capital to maintain the equity base amidst declining retained earnings.

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Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Balance Sheet: Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity