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Nike strikes e-commerce deal They'll sell their shoes through Net startup company, Fogdog By CRISTINE GONZALEZ The Associated Press PORTLAND -- Can dot.com sales make the swoosh cooler? Analysts say Nike's move to sell its full product line for the next six months at fogdog.com, a Web-only sporting goods retailer, might make it so. Monday's deal between Nike and Fogdog Sports is a strategic step into Internet commerce that could boost the shoe giant's image among cyber-savvy young people. "The whole thing is how do you tap into the youth market, become cool again and talk their language?" said Josie Esquivel, an analyst at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. "Certainly, this is one of the major ways of doing that." Under the agreement, Nike gave Fogdog the right to sell a wider range of products until March 2000. In exchange, it bought 12 percent of the start-up's shares. That's nearly 6.2 million shares of Fogdog common stock at $1.03 per share. Fogdog, which filed for a public stock offering on Friday, expects to see the stock open at several times that price when shares begin trading in three months. The company, based in Redwood City, Calif., sells more than 15,000 athletic products, including about 160 Nike goods on its Web site. In the past, Nike has avoided selling its goods at Web-only stores. The company's turnaround comes as six major sporting goods retailers are about to go online. Global Sports is expected to launch e-commerce sites at the close of fourth quarter for Sports Authority, Sports and Recreation, Athlete's Foot, Sport Chalet, and MC Sports. "Nike realizes that the fourth quarter will be a significant period for e-commerce in the sporting goods arena," said Bob McGee, editor of Sporting Goods Intelligencer, a national sports newsletter. "They clearly wanted their position defined by then." Nike Chairman Phil Knight said Monday that it wasn't until last year that the company recognized the Internet as a meaningful source of revenue. "The Web represents a true revolution," Knight said. "Our reaction to that was to step back and try to understand it. We think we've got our arms around it a little better now." Although Fogdog is only three years old and has less than $10 million in annual sales, Knight said he considers it a leader among online sporting goods retailers. Fogdog was founded in 1994 by three Stanford University roommates who wanted to design Web sites for sporting-goods companies. Four years later, Fogdog started its first Web site, SportSite.com , later changed to fogdog.com . Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA