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How Kobe Bryant Eclipsed His Entire NBA Salary Earnings With His BodyArmor Investment

Published 11/02/2021, 10:45 AM EDT

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Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant had an incredibly successful NBA career. He also had a successful business career after his retirement in 2016. Kobe Bryant joined Michael Jordan in the three-comma club in 2019 after amassing his career earnings to $1 billion.

Kobe earned $323 million in salaries throughout his NBA career with the Lakers. However, Kobe had multiple investments, and it all helped him cross his career earnings to $1 billion. Though we lost Kobe in a tragic accident in January 2020, Kobe’s investments continued to deliver massive returns, even after his tragic demise.

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Kobe had some stakes in Bryant Stibel and Granity Studios. However, it was his investment in BodyArmor that delivered massive profits that even eclipsed his salary earnings in the NBA.

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Kobe Bryant’s BodyArmor investment overtakes his career salary earnings

Kobe invested in BodyArmor for the first time in 2014. He invested in 10% of BodyArmor for $6 million and subsequently became the third-largest investor of the brand. NBA’s James Harden, MLB’s Mike Trout, the NFL’s Rob Gronkowski, and the WNBA’s Skylar Diggins-Smith were the other investors of BodyArmor behind Kobe.

Kobe’s salary earnings throughout his career were around $323 million. According to several reports, the recent BodyArmor sale will help Kobe’s estate make around $400 million. This means his investment in the drinks brand has now eclipsed his NBA salary earnings.

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“If it wasn’t for Kobe Bryant’s vision and belief, BodyArmor would not have been able to achieve the success we had,” BodyArmor co-founder Mike Repole said in a statement.

US-based Coca-Cola company recently paid $5.6 billion to take full control of BodyArmor. The Coca Cola-BodyArmor deal is now the largest amount the former has paid for a drinks brand. Coca-Cola originally had a 15% stake in the brand, but it later bought the outstanding 85% to take full control. In fact, Coca-Cola announced the deal at exactly 8:24 a.m. to commemorate Kobe Bryant’s two jersey numbers during his NBA career.

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Kobe’s stake in BodyArmor had initially risen to $200 million in 2018 when Coca-Cola bought a 15% stake. However, now it has doubled with the complete buyout of the sports drink brand.

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Written by:

Abhishek Singh

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Abhishek is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports with over two years of journalistic experience with Chase Your Sport and Dribl. A Football Management graduate, he has previously interned in the Indian Super League, I-League and the AFC Champions League. In addition to being a Michael Jordan fan, Abhishek is an ardent Steph Curry and Warriors guy, and believes they have a few more championships in store before the former retires.
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