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NBA legend LeBron James has accumulated plenty of wealth on and off the basketball court, but is he a billionaire?
LeBron James made Forbes’ list as the first active NBA player to be named a billionaire, despite missing the playoffs for just the fourth time in 19 seasons. LeBron James—18-time NBA All-Star, four-time NBA champion, and two-time gold medalist in the Olympics—has achieved yet another milestone by accomplishing an unheard-of feat in the NBA.
According to Forbes, which rates the wealth of sports, entertainers, and businesspeople, the 37-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star is the first active NBA player to become a billionaire. Although Michael Jordan, a legendary basketball player, is also a billionaire, Forbes stated that he didn’t reach that status until years after he stopped playing.
There are an estimated 700 billionaires in the United States, out of the 330 million people who call it home, including people like Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com. James amassed his money via meticulous property and company investments as well as from his profits from the NBA, which allowed him to acquire ownership holdings in prestigious organizations like the Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox.
James “maximized his business” to make over USD 1.2 billion in pretax income, according to Forbes. Over the course of his 19-year career, he has earned more than 385 million dollars in pay from the three organizations he has represented. His earnings through commercial endeavours and endorsement deal with companies like Nike, PepsiCo, Walmart, and AT&T are estimated by Forbes to total more than USD 900 million.
“James has long designed arrangements to offer him shares in businesses he collaborates with,” the magazine says. This has led to his success with companies like the Blaze Pizza chain, the intelligent gym manufacturer Tonal, and the ridesharing behemoth Lyft.
About his aspirations to become a billionaire, James told GQ in 2014, “If it happens, It’s my biggest milestone”. Only two NBA players are on the billionaire list, including James. Over ten years after his retirement, the first, Michael Jordan, became one of the richest people in the world in 2014.
James was raised by a variety of family members, friends, neighbors, and his peewee football coach during the three years before he became the most anticipated high school basketball prospect in history. James was born to a struggling, 16-year-old single mother in Akron, Ohio.
At the age of 18, he signed his first contract with Nike, notably turning down offers from Reebok and Adidas in favor of what he believed to be the more reliable long-term business partner. He signed a lifetime contract with Nike in late 2015 after more than 10 years of success, which will pay him tens of millions of dollars per year.
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