Michael Jordan is third highest paid athlete in the world, despite retiring 12 years ago

MJ with his 6 championship rings

Six-time NBA Champion, six-time finals MVP, five-time NBA MVP, fourteen-time NBA All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medallist etc etc. Michael Jordan’s career is so impressive it has become blasé. If “His Airness” was an army general, he’d run out of space on his jacket for medals. But that isn’t stopping him from adding accolades to his legacy. And the newest is: Billionaire. 

Despite retiring from the NBA in 2003, after a forgettable comeback with the Washington Wizards, Jordan made $100 million in 2014. The revenue stems from his endorsements and royalties from “Jordan”, his namesake brand which is a subsidiary of Nike, as well as his controlling stake in the Charlotte Hornets. In 2010, Jordan bought a controlling stake in the Hornets, then called the Bobcats, for $ 175 million. Their value has more than quadrupled and stands a $725 million today. 

The income from endorsements makes Jordan the highest earner from that source amongst all athletes, active or retired. It also places him third on the list of highest-paid athletes, just behind Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. According to estimates, the player believed to the greatest of all time by many, made a $100 million in just a year, and $94 million in his 15-year career in the NBA. Adjusted for inflation, that amount would be around $145 million today. But scaling down the duration, that figure is dwarfed by his earnings in 2014.

According to Forbes' Kurt Badenhousen, America’s $4.2 billion basketball shoe market was dominated by Nike’s Air Jordan,which commanded a 58% market share last year. That is a 4% year-on-year increase from 2013. The brand’s shoe sales in the U.S. rose 17% in 2014 to $2.6 billion. Jordan’s shoe sales have turned over more than eight times the amount of current star LeBron James’ signature shoes’ sales.

To say that Jordan is reaping the rewards of the brand that is his legacy is an understatement. He owns a private jet, his own country club (that he built because he was fed up with his old golf club), a customized golf cart (for his 6”6’ inch frame), a $21 million, 32,863 square foot Chicago mansion that he’s selling and a 154-feet yacht called “Mr.Terrible.”