Nike Joins Facebook And Microsoft In Entering The Metaverse

A series of trademark applications filed by Nike Inc NKE indicate the multinational sneaker and apparel giant is preparing to enter the metaverse.

What Happened: According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, on Oct. 27 Nike filed applications for “Nike,” the slogan “Just Do It,” and its swoosh logo.

On Oct. 28, the company filed two more applications for the Air Jordan and Jumpman logos.

In addition to the filings, Nike posted a job for a “virtual material designer” on its website, further signaling its plans to enter the realm of digital assets.

These designers would be involved in the creation of virtual footwear and other digital products.

Prospective future employees will “play a key role in redefining our digital landscape, ushering us into the metaverse,” said Nike in the job posting.

For the moment, the company is still waiting on approval for a patent filed in 2019 to tokenize its CryptoKicks shoes as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum ETH/USD blockchain.

Nike’s move to “enter the metaverse” comes in tandem with similar moves from software giant Microsoft Corporation MSFT and social media giant Facebook, recently rebranded as Meta Platforms Inc FB.

“The metaverse enables us to embed computing into the real world and to embed the real world into computing. Bringing real presence to any digital space,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the Ignite Conference.

Price Action: Nike shares are up 2% at $171.18 Wednesday morning.

Photo by Josh Redd on Unsplash