Nike’s VP Steps Down After It Is Discovered That Her Son Was Allegedly Using Bots, Her Credit Card And Her Company Discount To Buy Up Everything And Resell Them At A MASSIVE Profit
(Business Week) - Nike Inc. executive Ann Hebert abruptly left the company following a Bloomberg Businessweek report about her son operating a business reselling sneakers and using a credit card in her name.
Hebert, who served as vice president and general manager of North America, departed Monday, effective immediately, Nike said in a brief statement. She had been in the role since last June, overseeing Nike’s sales, marketing and merchandising in the region.
(CNBC) - Bloomberg Businessweek’s latest cover article explored the story of Joe Hebert, Ann’s son, a college dropout who makes a living as a sneaker reseller. Known to his customers as West Coast Joe, he started reselling streetwear in high school and now flips hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shoes each month.
The report revealed he had used a credit card in Ann’s name to purchase sneakers for his resell business, West Coast Streetwear. It said he spent more than $100,000 on the card to buy limited-edition shoes and flip them for a profit.
His business has been booming, even during the Covid pandemic, Bloomberg reported. It described how Joe has been able to buy sneakers at even steeper discounts from retailers like Foot Locker, and sell them for more and more money.
Buying sneakers has become such a goddamn pain in the ass. You see a pair you want, go to buy them only to find out they’ve sold out seconds after becoming available. You go to the secondary market and now they’re $100 above sticker price - and that’s assuming the pair you wanted wasn’t all that nice to begin with. It was always easy to blame the bots and faceless resellers. Now? Those bots and faceless resellers have a face. And that face makes this look like an inside job, even if it wasn’t. Hence the whole stepping down thing.
West Coast Joe can eat my fucking shorts. On the one hand, I want to give him credit for pulling this off as a teenager. Kid saw an opportunity and fucking ran with it. But on the other, more logical hand, this is just another spoiled rich kid finding a loophole in a system and exploiting the masses for his own personal gain. Without ever using a cent of his own money. What an asshole. Look at this shit:
The resale game is what it is. A lot of regular people see it as a way to make a quick buck. I don’t have much of a problem with those people, mostly because they don’t start off with an unlimited bankroll and direct connections to the fucking assembly line. And this kid would still be racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars if he didn’t open his mouth to Bloomberg in the first place. I think that’s weirdly making me the angriest here. I always knew the sneaker game was rigged. That wont change now even after she stepped down. But all West Coast Joe had to do was not go doing full interviews about his booming enterprise. It wouldn’t have lasted forever, this business was built on faulty foundation, eventually someone would’ve pieced it together and dimed him out. But he didn’t have to be the person to take himself out now. This is an all time - ALL. TIME. - fumbling of the bag.
He’s 19, he’ll be fine, I don't feel bad for him and neither should you. His mother spent the last 25 years grinding away, climbing the corporate ladder, just to get handed the position of a lifetime, only to have to be forced into quitting in under a year because your kid was too greedy and didn't know how to keep his mouth shut. He fumbled his bag, his mom's bag, and his meal ticket.