German press printed an interview this morning of Nike Brand President Charlie Denson, who commented that a Nike 'takeover' in China could indeed happen.

While not a sensationalistic quote by any means, it was taken out of context. First off, the word 'takeover' has a different connotation in the US as opposed to Europe (also note that Germany is Adidas and Puma home turf). Nike does not do 'takeovers' as defined by a US audience. It might go hostile on offense from a brand and marketing perspective, but not from a strategic and fiscal perspective.

Also, Nike's strategy is to buy brands that get them to consumers that it can not touch (or does not want to touch) with its own Brands. I can't imagine that with the Nike Brand, Converse, Umbro, and Cole Haan, that Nike can't tap into its share of the 2.8 billion feet in China without having to add to its arsenal.

Could lower-end Li-Ning make sense strategically? Yes, perhaps given the delta in price points as Li-Ning price points are about half those of Nike. But the only reason Nike would do this now would be a defensive move to the extent that Adidas/Reebok attempted to scoop it up first. And even then I'm not convinced they'd go for it.

The punchline here is that the probability of Nike buying anything in China right now is very low in my humble opinion.

Clip below courtesy of StreetAccount.