14 DAY TRIAL // Unfortunately, many athletes today experience financial troubles as soon as their professional careers are over, and some experience them even during their active years. While there may be wizards in the sports field, not many are business-savvy and end up blowing their fortunes before they are already made.
The same thing can't be said about former basketball player Michael Jordan, one of the most prominent figures of the NBA of all time. Though he made millions at the height of his career, Jordan never stopped earning and saving to this day, which is why today Forbes estimates that he's become a billionaire.
Jordan owns a big part of the NBA team the Charlotte Hornets and his share of the profit comes just under half a billion dollars (€369,2 million). The other half is estimated to come from his net worth outside the team. If you add all of that together, you'll realize that the 51-year-old athlete is now a billionaire with a capital B.
Michael started investing in the Hornets in 2006 and he's been buying up shares since then. As of 2010, he had become the controlling owner and thus raked in even more cash from the sporting venture. Since the team is today estimated to be worth in excess of half a billion dollars (€369,2 million), you can do the math.
Apart from his cash cow at the Charlotte Hornets, Michael has also earned serious money as a very talented basketball player on the court back in the day. His skills meant that he could demand generous contracts and teams fought to win him, basically throwing money at him.
To that, you can add his numerous and very lucrative promotional campaigns. In his lengthy career, Michael Jordan became the face of some major American brands, such as Coca-Cola, Gatorade, Hanes, McDonald's, Nike or Wheaties.
Fortunately for him and unfortunately for you, Jordan has someone to pass down all that wealth to. Earlier this year, he became a father again, when his model wife he married in 2013 gave birth to identical twin daughters.
This happened in February and they were the latest addition to Jordan's growing brood, which includes his three other children with ex-wife Juanita Vanoy: Marcus, Jeffrey and Jasmine. As you can seen, Michael is still scoring these days, despite the fact that he's no longer playing on the basketball court. This time he's scoring millions.
Now let's hope he doesn't do a video with him bragging that he's a billionaire like some other people we know but who shall not be named at this time (cough, Dr. Dre, cough).