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CNBC Host Says Berkshire Should Buy Iconic Consumer Brand After Stock Falls 75%

A CNBC anchor floated Warren Buffett as the unlikely savior for one of America's most iconic sports brands, and the math behind a potential deal is harder to dismiss than it sounds.

By AJ Tiarsmith
Published September 18, 2026, 10:41am ET · 2 min read

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On CNBC’s Squawk Box Friday, anchor Joe Kernen floated Berkshire Hathaway as a potential buyer for Nike (NYSE:NKE | NKE Price Prediction) after Swiss sportswear brand On signed French superstar Kylian Mbappé away from Nike. Kernen contrasted Nike’s $35 tape with its  high of $169 and noted Berkshire’s “$350 some odd billion dollars lying around.”

The speculation remains on-air chatter. But the numbers behind it explain why the idea landed at all.

A 12-Year Low, 13 Days Before Earnings

Nike changed hands at $36.26, leaving the stock down 48.2% over the past year and 74.59% over five years. Year to date, shares have shed 41.57%. Market cap now sits at roughly $43.66 billion, a fraction of the $264 billion peak in 2021. Reuters and Barron’s both flagged this week that Nike’s Dow seat may be in jeopardy after the slide, and press coverage noted LVMH executive Alexandre Arnault was added to the board as the stock hit its lowest level in 12 years.

NKE price target

Fiscal Q1 2027 results, filed June 30, 2026, showed diluted EPS of $0.72 versus a $0.1273 consensus, a seventh consecutive beat. Strip out a $986 million one-time IEEPA tariff recovery that added $0.52 to EPS and lifted gross margin roughly 900 basis points to 49.2%, and the quarter looks far more pedestrian. Revenue slipped 1.13% year over year, Greater China fell 17% currency-neutral, and Converse dropped 32%.

NKE earnings explorer

CEO Elliott Hill said “I’m confident we’re building Nike the right way, not for the next quarter, but for the next decade,” and noted “our consumer is under pressure around the world.”

David vs. Goliath, Both Bleeding

The twist most coverage will miss: the brand poaching Mbappé is bleeding too. On Holding (NYSE:ONON) trades at $27.08, down 41.74% year to date and 38.23% over one year, with a market cap near $9.07 billion. Analysts still carry an average target of $42.65 and quarterly revenue growth ran 13.5%, but the shoe war is being fought between two beaten-down stocks.

What to Watch

Berkshire’s cash and Nike’s brand moat check Buffett boxes: dividend aristocrat, $18 billion four-year buyback, iconic IP. The next catalyst is Hill’s November 16-17 investor day. Consensus for the quarter ending August 31, 2026 sits at $0.4537 EPS, with fiscal 2027 EPS estimates cut to $1.7211 from $1.8423 ninety days ago.

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AJ Tiarsmith

AJ spent 10 years writing about financial markets at The Motley Fool. His coverage centers on technology stocks and the broader macroeconomic trends, from interest rates to geopolitics,  that shape where markets are headed next. AJ is drawn to the stories where big-picture economics and individual companies collide.

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