Everyday Hot Comment | Nike Greater China "Head" Resigns and Joins Sequoia China, What Is Capital Really "Stockpiling"?

Why did Sequoia China hire CFO-background executive Dong Wei against the trend?

By Daily Economic News columnist Sun Yuting

Dong Wei is probably the busiest professional manager lately. On March 31, she stepped down as Chairwoman and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Nike Greater China, only to turn around and join Sequoia China.

Just a week earlier, Swiss sportswear brand On Running announced that CEO Martin Hoffmann will step down on May 1, to be taken over again by two founders.

Putting the two together sends a signal: sportswear brands are “saying goodbye” to CEOs with finance backgrounds. But Sequoia China, oddly, does the opposite—bringing Dong Wei in through the door.

First, look at Nike.

Dong Wei is not without her achievements. She spearheaded Nike China’s digital transformation, a system that had once been called by global CEOs “a benchmark for global digitization.” From fiscal year 2015 to fiscal year 2021, Nike Greater China’s revenue posted double-digit growth for 22 consecutive quarters.

But every manager has their own capability boundaries. An industry insider previously told the Daily Economic News that when it comes to “street battles” in sportswear, finance thinking often hesitates between choosing “profit margins” or “price wars.” The result is that inventory improvements lag behind globally, while market share is continuously eroded by competitors.

That line can be understood as: it’s not that Dong Wei isn’t good enough, but that what Nike needs is no longer what she is best at.

The logic at On Running is the same.

Martin Hoffmann is a typical finance-side executive. He spent 13 years at On Running as CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and then 5 years as CEO. Under his leadership, the company went public and grew annual sales to 3 billion Swiss francs. But the 2025 financial report exposed the problem: revenue growth without profit growth, with net profit falling year over year by nearly 16%.

Over the past year, On Running has been aggressively expanding stores worldwide. The company-owned store count rose from about 50 to 67, including 38 stores in China. Meanwhile, the company’s marketing expenses have continued to climb. It sells more but also spends more, and profits have gradually been “consumed.”

After the financial report was released, On Running’s stock price fell in response. Immediately afterward, the company issued a prediction that disappointed the market: in 2026, sales growth would slow from 2025’s 30% to about 23%. With two negative signals stacking up, the stock price dropped further.

Less than three weeks later, On Running announced a change of leadership. In an official news release, David Allemann, a co-founder of On Running, said: “The best time to raise your own level is when you keep breaking your own records.” The underlying message is: it’s still not too late to change the CEO now.

On Running realized it needs to switch from a “burning money for expansion” mode to a “refining operations and focusing on execution” mode. And doing this is more suitable for the founders than for a professional manager.

This leadership change also included another move: Scott Maguire, who has a technical background, was promoted to President and COO (Chief Operating Officer). He led the revolutionary LightSpray (a high-performance knit technology for shoe uppers developed by On Running). By putting someone who understands products in charge of the entire value chain, On Running’s message is “first, make the product great.”

Nike and On Running—one a U.S. giant, the other a European newcomer—made the same choice: put the people who understand the frontline and the product the most in charge.

But Sequoia China does the opposite.

The day Dong Wei stepped down as CEO of Nike Greater China, Sequoia China announced her joining. This is not the first time Sequoia China has done something like this. Previously, Zhang Yu, former editor-in-chief of the China edition of VOGUE Fashion and Beauty, announced that she would become an investment partner at Sequoia China, focusing on the fashion consumer sector. Under Zhang Yu’s leadership, Sequoia China has successively secured multiple European and American designer brands, including France’s Ami, Korea’s WE11DONE, and France’s DESTREE, effectively opening the investment channel to international fashion brands.

Consumption has long been one of the three core investment areas for Sequoia China since its founding. In its early days, it bet on leading consumer companies such as Pop Mart, Baitai Ni, Guming, and Zero food (零食很忙). It also invested in trend IP projects such as Card You (卡游), building deep early-investment advantages in domestic consumer tracks. But Sequoia China clearly isn’t satisfied with investing only in Chinese brands. Zhang Yu opened the door to European and American designer brands, and with Dong Wei joining, the goal becomes even more explicit: to thoroughly understand and master the niche track of sports consumption.

Judging from policy and capital signals, the rebound window for consumer investment is opening. On March 6 this year, Wu Qing, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, clearly stated: “We will add a more precise and more inclusive set of listing standards on the ChiNext board, and actively support high-quality innovative entrepreneurship enterprises such as new-type consumption and modern services industry in issuing and listing on the ChiNext board.”

Primary market data also confirms this trend. According to an analysis by 投中嘉川 (Touzhong Jiacang), in January and February this year, investment in the consumer sector increased year over year by 116.6% and 209.5% respectively. Funds are accelerating their return to the consumer space.

Sequoia is stepping up consumer investment at this moment, and Dong Wei’s joining is the card it played. That said, Sequoia’s logic looks very clear: bring in people who know how to operate brand systemsically, and have them discover and cultivate the next brand.

If the industrial side looks at how things survive today, then the capital side is looking at who can win tomorrow—because every battle has an end date. In the end, it’s brand accumulation and system capabilities that allow you to cross cycles.

Daily Economic News