Billionaire athlete Michael Jordan set to become even richer after sale of NBA franchise
The basketball legend is selling the Charlotte Hornets for a reported price tag of US$3 billion
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It’s been more than 20 years since Michael Jordan last played in the NBA but the basketball legend still routinely outearns the world’s highest-paid active athletes.
Last year, LeBron James took home nearly US$127 million in basketball earnings and endorsements, topping Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar as the highest-paid athlete in the world. Jordan, meanwhile, earned nearly US$180 million, with the majority of that money coming from his Nike deal.
Now Jordan is set to cash out once again by selling the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets for a reported price tag of $3 billion. Jordan purchased a majority stake in the team in 2010 for US$275 million.
Despite failing to advance past the first round of the playoffs under Jordan’s tenure, he’ll still be pocketing a 10 times return on his investment and maintaining a minority stake in the team.
Jordan chose a good time to sell as the valuation of professional sports franchises has soared in recent years. Billionaire mortgage lender Mat Ishbia recently purchased the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury for a record price of US$4 billion.
The previous owner, Robert Sarver, purchased the teams in 2004, for what was then a record-setting price tag of US$401 million.
The NFL’s Washington Commanders, meanwhile, was purchased for US$6.05 billion earlier this year, the largest-ever deal for a North American professional sports franchise.
Fortitious timing aside, Jordan is certainly not in need of a cash infusion.
The first billionaire athlete, Jordan is the highest-earning former athlete in the world by a substantial margin and its mostly due to his deal with Nike. Jordan signed with the brand in 1984 and takes home five per cent of the Jordan brand’s annual earnings. In 2022, he made more than US$150 million on that deal alone.
He’s also inked endorsement deals with Gatorade, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Hanes and other global brands.
Over the course of his 15 NBA seasons, the six-time NBA champion earned less than US$100 million and most of that came in his final few seasons with the Chicago Bulls. In contrast, Nikola Jokic, who was named the NBA Finals MVP earlier this month after leading the Denver Nuggets to their first championship in 47 seasons, signed a 5-year US$272M extension with the team last season.
But Jordan’s off-the-court ventures continue to pay big dividends, allowing him to do things like build a private golf course complete with a drone delivery beer service, purchase a US$3.5 million hypercar and donate to charities, including making a US$10 million contribution to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America earlier this year, the largest donation from an individual in the organization’s 43-year history.
But he doesn’t say yes to everything.
The notoriously competitive Jordan once rejected a lucrative endorsement deal in the early ’90s with Van Camp’s pork and beans.
Wanting to be genuine with his endorsements, Jordan declined both because he didn’t eat the product and because of its name — Beanee Weenees.
“You ever heard of Beanee Weenees pork and beans? It was close to a million bucks a year,” Jordan later recalled. “How can I stand in front of a camera and say I’ll eat Beanee Weenees?”
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