Image Credits - Forbes
Michael Jordan is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players to have ever graced the court. But the NBA legend is also a businessman, team owner, and product ambassador. The six-time NBA champion has reached a $5 billion net worth recently and it only seems to be growing by the day.
Michael made a total salary of $93.7 million throughout his NBA career. He was the first athlete in history to have a salary of more than $30 million annually. He achieved the accomplishment while making $30.14 million in base pay for the 1996–1997 season. The season after, he made a whopping $33.14 million.
Despite the fact that Jordan hasn’t played basketball professionally in over 20 years, he still makes $100 million a year through sponsorships and other business activities. He made more money in one year than he did from his contract over the course of 16 seasons in the NBA. Jordan receives royalties from the Nike/Jordan brands worth at least $60 million annually.
Thanks to his holding position in the NBA franchise Charlotte Hornets, Michael became a millionaire.
With a net worth of $500 million, Michael Jordan was the first celebrity to be added to Celebrity Net Worth in September 2009. Six years later, in 2014, the first surpassed the $1 billion mark. In the first few months of 2020, he reached $2 billion.
Milestones in Michael Jordan’s Net Worth
Annual Net Worth
2009 – $500,000,000
2013 – $650,000,000
2014 – $1,000,000,000
2016 – $1,100,000,000
2017 – $1,200,000,000
2018 – $1,500,000,000
2019 – $1,900,000,000
2020 – $2,200,000,000
2021 – $3,600,000,000
2022 – $5,000,000,000
James Worthy’s $150,000 yearly deal with New Balance was the highest celebrity shoe endorsement deal in history prior to Michael Jordan. Jordan broke all sponsorship records in 1984 when Nike agreed to pay him $500,000 year for five years. Jordan also earned Nike stock options, bringing his total pay for the five years to $7 million.
Jordan had never had a pair of Nike shoes before signing the contract; instead, he had been expecting to sign with Adidas. However, Nike’s offer was too high to refuse and too high for Adidas to match.
The sneakers broke the NBA’s uniformity rules when he first unveiled them. Nike paid all of the fines imposed by the league and capitalized on the uproar to increase brand awareness. Two months after the Air Jordan shoe’s first release in retailers in March 1985, more than a million units had been sold. Nike made $100 million from sales of Air Jordan in the first year. The Air Jordan brand now accounts for 58 percent of all basketball shoe sales, bringing in more than $2.5 billion in yearly revenue for Nike.
Michael received 25 cents for each pair of Jordan shoes sold in 1992. He now receives $4 for each sneaker sold. Nike gave Michael $480 million in shoe royalties between 2002 and 2012. Michael Jordan receives an annual Nike royalty payment in the range of $80 and $100 million now. But in a few years, his royalty payment exceeded $100 to $120 million.
Now, as of 2022, Michael Jordan’s net worth has crossed $5 billion, due to his ownership of the Jordan company and it appears to be growing with each passing day.
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