There's nothing left to say that hasn't already been said about Michael Jordan's achievement and ability on the basketball court, but you might know about his prowess off it, as one clever investment he made has contributed billions of dollars to his net worth over the years.
Michael Jordan made an instant impact on the NBA after being picked up by the Chicago Bulls in 1984, winning 1985's Rookie of the Year award and going on to become many people's undisputed greatest player of all time with six total NBA championships under his belt.
This made him a global star and someone that millions across the world looked to for their buying habits, as who wouldn't want to wear the same shoes as Michael Jordan after all?
He famously secured a five percent royalty share from Nike for shoes sold in the 'Jordan' line, which you'll be well aware remain one of the most popular sneakers globally, yet it's actually another clever investment that catapulted him into the world of the ultra wealthy, as reported by Supercar Blondie.
Advert
Despite playing for the Chiago Bulls for the majority of his career – having only a two-year stint at the Washington Wizards after returning from his second retirement – Jordan made a surprising investment in the Charlotte Hornets, then Charlotte Bobcats, in 2010.
The Hornets are, after all, Jodan's 'hometown' team with the basketball star spending most of his childhood living in Wilmington, which is only a few hours away from Charlotte, and that was clearly a motivating factor when he put down approximately $275 million to obtain majority ownership of the franchise.
He remained the side's majority owner from 2010 all the way until 2023, when he finally sold his stake for a staggering $3 billion figure to Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall, keeping a minority stake in the process.
This was over ten times the initial figure he paid, owing to the explosion of franchise values in the NBA over his tenure as the Hornets only made the playoffs twice with Jordan as majority owner.
According to data from Forbes he currently sits as the 1,034th richest person in the world with a total net worth of around $3.8 billion, meaning that the vast majority of the basketball star's fortune was sourced from that clever purchase back in 2010.
He is still quite a way off the wealth held by his former fellow NBA team owners, as people like Stan Kroenke, Dan Gilbert, and Steve Ballmer all have net worths in the tens of billions, but he towers above all other athletes, with the closest being fellow NBA star Magic Johnson with a fortune of around $1.6 billion.