Forbes released their annual list of billionaires this week, and among the record-setting 290 new members of the exclusive club is a man known for setting plenty of records himself: one Michael Jordan. The NBA superstar, who is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, has become a financial juggernaut off the court as well.
Jordan’s share of the Nike fortune earned him a cool $90 million last year according to Forbes, and Steve Ballmer’s $2 billion purchase of the Los Angeles Clippers after the Donald Sterling debacle is said to be the reason for Jordan’s arrival on the list.
Jordan, who owns a majority stake of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, saw his team’s estimated value surpass the $500 million mark after Ballmer bought the Clippers. Just about every NBA owner experienced the same after Ballmer influenced the market.
Whether it’s from his business acumen or his lasting reputation as one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet, Michael Jordan has managed to topple the stereotype of athletes going from riches to rags after their playing days end. His net-worth of roughly $1 billion makes him not only one of the richest athletes alive, but also the 1,741st richest person in the world.
Two of the top three spots are held by Americans; Bill Gates ($79.2 billion) is first and Warren Buffet ($72.7 billion) is third. Overall, America is home to the most billionaires with 536 out of the roughly 2,000 people on the list coming from the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.
Millennials will rejoice at the booming success of three of our, like, favorite things: Snapchat, Uber, and Nutella. Evan Spiegel, founder of Snapchat, is the youngest member of the list at 24 years old and a net-worth of $1.5 billion. The Three Musketeers behind cab-killer Uber, Travis Kalanick, Ryan Graves and Garret Camp, have seen their company’s estimated value skyrocket to $41.2 billion. Then finally is Nutella, inherited by Maria Franca Fissolo after her husband and original Nutella founder Michele Ferrero passed away. Fissolo is worth $23.4 billion.
