Michael Jordan continues to live a charmed life long after his iconic NBA career concluded in 2003. The Chicago Bulls legend recently joined the prestigious Forbes 400 list—a compilation of the wealthiest individuals in the United States—thanks to his billion-dollar fortune.
But how exactly did Michael Jordan amass such an incredible amount of wealth? And more importantly, how does he choose to spend it?
Sold majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets
Jordan’s steep rise in valuation came to be after he sold his majority stake in the NBA franchise, Charlotte Hornets, to Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin for an estimated $3 billion. It’s an incredible and lucrative deal, considering Jordan only shelled out $175 million to become a majority Hornets owner in 2010.
The Jordan Brand
Jordan’s deal with Nike continues to line up his pockets to this day, with a report from Fox News indicating that his five percent in royalties earned him a whopping $330 million last year. Additionally, a Business Insider report shared that the Jordan Brand earns Nike an annual revenue of $3.6 billion.
It’s intriguing that Jordan and Nike almost never collaborated, as the former was keen on joining adidas in 1984. However, he was eventually convinced dealing with Nike was the right call and signed for $250,000 a year. Nike initially projected that the first Air Jordan would only sell around $3 million, but those expectations were shattered as sales rose to $70 million two months after the shoe was released.
Racing team
Jordan padded his portfolio by co-founding a NASCAR race team in 2020 called 23XI Racing. According to Jordan’s partner in this venture, race car driver Denny Hamlin, Jordan is becoming more hands-on in handling the team, giving the NBA great another avenue to showcase his competitiveness.
“He’s obviously been a part of team sports forever. He’s, at times, heard things in meetings where he’s like, ‘I don’t like that. We need to be more self-reflective on what we need to do better.’ That goes such a long way with our team,” Hamlin said.
