The layoffs are engineered in such a way that they avoid ageism complaints. For the layoff in 2017 an analysis of the ages of who was let go formed a perfect bell curve. It has age as the median being the exact center between collage graduation day at 22 and retirement at 65. The least were let go at the low and the high end of the age range and the most at the median. The median and average were the same and lent to the perfect symmetry of the curve.
It appears that they decide how many people in each age group need to be let go to achieve this symmetry on the curve and avoid age discrimination suits. Basically, you have to lay off a bunch of younger folks to eliminate the older ones and avoid litigation.
I believe ageism is alive and well at Nike - especially in tech. Proving it is yet another matter.
An on point post from @sipf+1iHXntkR.