How Michael Jordan Has Made His Money and What You Can Learn From It
Knowing Michael Jordan is worth $1.9 billion may cause fans to think it mostly came from Nike or other endorsements. To put more meaning to his net worth, fans should know his investments are considerable. MJ’s fortune makes up numerous categories of personal investments outside the usual corporate payouts.
When placing this in context with Jordan’s generosity in giving back, his life has even more meaning. Where he’s earned his money, though, can still provide lessons for all of us on how everyone should diversify investments. In other words, never placing all your eggs in one basket is always the best policy. Some of Jordan’s detailed investments might surprise a few people.
A good chunk of income comes from Nike — and the Charlotte Hornets
Despite being obvious at the big bucks Jordan makes from Nike, Business Insider reported last year he makes $100 million a year in Nike royalties. His Air Jordans slowed down in sales for a brief time after his NBA retirement, yet picked up in recent years based purely on nostalgia.
Outside of the tremendous amount of money he still makes from Nike, it’s still a small fraction of the $1.9 billion he has coming in annually.
One thing Business Insider mentions above is the value of his team (The Charlotte Hornets) shot up in recent years to $1.3 billion. This mostly explains why he hit the Forbes list being one of the few former sports star billionaires.
As starters, his investing in an NBA team was one of the smartest things he could do. Since the NBA is continually profitable, investing in a team adds worth over time, particularly with star players and merchandise.
Other smart investments by Michael Jordan
Jordan’s endorsements, of course, are considerable and a part of pop culture for a long while. His commercials for Rayovac, Gatorade, Wheaties, Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Chevrolet, and Hanes are notable and go back as far as the mid-1980s.
Some of these continue, but as far as true investments are concerned, he has several sometimes off the radar. One interesting one is his investment in a North Carolina Nissan car dealership. He did this back in 1997, complete with placing his name on the dealership marquee and offering video clips of him in the waiting room.
In addition, he has investments in numerous restaurants as another example of his diversity. Business Insider called it just another one of his “side hustles”, something maybe sounding unusual for a billionaire.
The point is Jordan is one of the most diverse investors around. When looking at some of his other investments, one begins to see how diversified he really is to keep his income streams steady.
Michael Jordan has even invested in sports tech
No doubt some will remember when Jordan invested in eSports, namely aXiomatic. His investment money was part of a $26 million Series C funding round. Perhaps it also helped that Magic Johnson was also a co-owner of aXiomatic.
The investment here two years ago was Jordan’s first foray into the world of eSports. However, it was certainly no impetuous turn. He seems to carefully understand what to invest in before turning over any money.
Considering eSports is a very lucrative arena, he knew the practicality, particularly now in the age of quarantining. Thanks to his focus on investment diversity, he knows the value in things like this as much as he did in the value of selling cars.
Bigger investments have still been on his plate, including also investing in Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins, part of Jordan’s attachment to Florida and baseball. Considering his attention to diversity, Jordan may continue to invest in the small things, as long as research shows them as sure bets.
