🏀 How Michael Jordan Made His Billions
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Morning Baller!
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f7b26e3e7849a2bac2_1-1.webp)
Don’t you just wanna be like Mike?
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f6450c25480b8bc373_2.webp)
No, not that Mike. This Mike:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f7906467713c4e1bf9_3.webp)
Closer…
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f7c1756b3dddee5fea_4.webp)
Yes! Michael Jordan.
What’s not to wanna be like?
- Most NBA championships won by any player
- Most MVP awards won by any player
- Billionaire
Now – I won’t speak for you – but 2 out of those 3 things I can’t become no matter how hard I try. I’m 5’9”, 20% body fat, and play the piano.
But the last thing! I'm only $1,000,015,518 away.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f77e33edec4cd6e87d_pasted_image_0.webp)
So how does Michael Jordan become the first billionaire athlete?
It starts in 1984, when Michael Jordan gets drafted #1–
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f7cfbe6de8253c8db6_6.webp)
Oops, sorry. Hakeem Olajuwon was drafted first overall that year.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f8b26e3e7849a2bb7f_7.webp)
Then Michae–
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f8906467713c4e1cb2_8.webp)
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f8c1756b3dddee5ffa_9.webp)
Jesus. Okay, then Michael Jordan?
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f9dd33f48b46460596_10.webp)
If it were the olympics, that would have looked something like this:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f8cfbe6de8253c8dc6_11.webp)
Bummer.
Except it was only a bummer for the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers. Jordan goes total GOAT status that year winning ‘Rookie of the Year.’
Whoops.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f8817f31aeb0334dbc_12.webp)
Then he spends the next 13 seasons with the Bulls, winning 6 championships and the MVP all 6 times. Oh and one of those championships games he scored 38 points – with the flu and a 103℉ fever.
Suck it, soccer sissies.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f9cf6176331c2a25c3_13.webp)
Okay, so his money..
In those 13 seasons he spent with the Bulls, he only made $90 MILLION dollars in salary.
But when you’re #1 in the world and winning championships with influenza, you’re bound to get offers for a sponsorship deal…or 3..
Jordan famously had offers from Adidas, Nike, and Converse but didn’t know which to take. So he turned to his Mom:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f8cf6176331c2a25b3_14.webp)
No.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f9b26e3e7849a2bcda_15.webp)
Yes.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f9c1756b3dddee600a_16.webp)
And the deal was done.
$500,000/yr for 5 years so long as Jordan endorsed Nike shoes.
PLUS Nike would make that endorsement easy by giving Jordan his own shoe line and 5% of sales. That’s how we got these beauties:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f9cfbe6de8253c8e0f_17.webp)
With Nike now controlling 90% of the basketball shoe market, this deal still makes Michael Jordan hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
‘But Smart Nonsense, surely hundreds of millions of dollars does not equal a billion dollars’
Gonna use my full name, huh. Yes. Fine.
Well I’m no Wall Street quant, but Mike’s portfolio looks something like this:
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/649aa49e57793ed61ecbd3fd/64d0a4f9817f31aeb0334dcc_18.webp)
Notice how almost all of his wealth came from things outside his NBA salary.
That’s GOAT status.
Now I’ll brb. I’ve got $1,000,015,518 I need to go make ASAP.
Stay Cute,
Henry & Dylan 🌈
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