Updated 11:21 AM EDT, Fri, Mar 29, 2024

NBA Legend Michael Jordan Now a Billionaire: How Did It Happen?

  • +
  • -
  • Sign up to receive the lastest news from LATINONE

Michael Jordan's net worth just hit the billion mark, placing him in the 29th Forbes list of billionaires.

In fact, according to Business Insider, he now occupies the 513th spot in the United States' pool of richest people.

Darren Rovell of ESPN wrote that "Jordan qualifies as the 1,741st richest person in the world."

Jordan joins 290 newcomers on the list, noted Forbes -- a record number of debuts. It attributes this to the healthier world market in the face of global turmoil, brought by wars and diseases, among others.

According to the Bleacher Report, the retired NBA star is one of a few figures in sports who haven't run into financial issues post-career. In the list,he is the most recognizable name.

CNN Money explained how he managed to amass that huge fortune.

It noted that Nike raked in $2.25 billion in 2013, earning the legend $90 million, per Forbes. But a lion's share of his riches came from his ownership of the Charlotte Hornets.

CNN added that the price of NBA teams was boosted after the former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer bought the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion.

Jordan, explained the Business Insider, saw his $275-million investment in 2010 surge to $725 million this year from $410 million a year ago.

The former Chicago Bull's stake is worth $500 million, per Forbes. In a report midyear last year, it said Jordan was already a billionaire, mainly because of increasing his shares in the team.

It added that a deal entered into by the NBA, ESPN and Turner that takes effect in 2016 will reel in $2.66 billion annually, or an extra $57 million per year for the Hornets.

On a more general note, Forbes noted that one-fourth of the first-time billionaires are Chinese, translating to 71 individuals. The United States, India and Germany went next with 57, 28 and 23.

Former Bulls boss Jerry Reinsdorf registered $1.3 billion, and Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, $1.6 billion. ESPN noted that the billionaires' list was populated by sports owners.

CNN Money noted that the list was still dominated by Microsoft's Bill Gates ($79.2 billion), cell phone magnate Carlos Slim ($77.1 billion) and investor Warren Buffett ($72.7 billion), but young billionaires also made the list -- there are 46 billionaires under 40, including the executives of Uber, Snapchat and Airbnb.

India suspended their service while Spain banned it, but Uber still got its three early members Garrett Camp, Travis Kalanick and Ryan Graves into the list, per Forbes. Snapchat got Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel in, while Airbnb put its creators Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia.

The richest newcomer, according to the Forbes report, is the widow of Nutella's Michelle Ferrero, Maria Franca Fissolo -- with $23.4 billion on her and her family.

On the average, Forbes noted, the newcomers are worth $1.8 billion each. Their total worth is $518 billion.

CNN Money summed up the worth of the world's 1,826 billionaires -- $7.05 trillion.

© 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
  • Sign up to receive the lastest news from LATINONE
Close

Curiosidades

Real Time Analytics