The inventor of the billionaire-athlete status, Michael Jordan, was squarely in that exclusive club when he transitioned from an NBA player to an NBA team owner. A stake in a franchise and smartly negotiated royalties from Nike made him very, very wealthy. He’s reached a point where after selling his ownership stake in the Charlotte Hornets for $3 billion, the billion-dollar global popularity of the Air Jordan makes him the richest (former) athlete. A combination of the Hornets’ sale, Nike success, and other successful ventures boosted his net worth to $3.2 billion in 2023 and placed him in the Forbes 400.

Magic Johnson, LeBron James, and Tiger Woods are also in the billionaire athletes club and catching up. But in a decade, that gap is going to get very big to catch up.

Michael Jordan’s success in numbers

A cool $500 million made Michael Jordan the richest athlete in the world in 2009. But with Nike’s success and Air Jordan’s growth parallel to that, by 2034, a then 70-year-old Jordan could be sitting on a $5.2 billion net worth, as per Celebrity Net Worth. A chunk of Nike’s Air Jordan sales is the primary contributor.

We know from the Last Dance that then-draft prospect Jordan was keen on Adidas. But a little nudge from his mother got him in the Nike fold. His first Nike contract paid $500,000 for five years. Air Jordan sales in 1985 surpassed all expectations with $126 million in the first year alone and the Jordan Brand was born, leaving certain people with regrets.

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Magic Johnson regrets not going to Nike because his yachting buddy would’ve made him a billionaire sooner. Charles Barkley is still grateful to his ex-best friend for advising him to take stock options in Nike instead of a salary that still keeps him rich. These smart decisions have served His Airness in the long run as documents proved Nike paid him $480 million from 2002 to 2012, the immediate decade after his retirement.

One of those smart decisions includes settling for a 5% royalty to allow that Jumpman logo on Nike’s designs. Seems like a small percentage for quite literally birthing sneaker culture. But in 2023, that small percentage gave him $330 million. The Jordan Brand crossed $5 billion in gross revenue, becoming the biggest sneaker seller second to the parent company, Nike itself. It’s responsible for 13% of Nike’s overall revenue.

Nike is projected to grow to $100 billion in a decade. If the Jordan Brand is bringing in (hypothetically) 10% of Nike’s revenue in a decade, Jordan’s 5% cut will be $500 million. Add in real estate investments, his golf clubs, 23XI Racing, and more multi-faceted ventures and his net worth would be in the $5 billion range. That’s only because he stayed at Nike.

What keeps Michael Jordan with Nike?

Nike may have snagged him from Adidas but getting the monster rookie to stay was another mountain to climb. Jordan broke his leg in the 1985-86 season and he was reconsidering staying at Nike. So the brand got Tinker Hatfield to get into Jordan’s mind and create a more player-friendly shoe. Thus came the pièce de résistance, Air Jordan 3.

Hatfield and not the big bucks is why Jordan remained at Nike. The shoe designer also created Air Jordans 3 through 15 and some other editions. Apart from the Jumpman appeal, Hatfield’s designs are why the Jordan Brand holds the largest share of the sneaker market.

Jordan’s involvement with his brand is now seen through the Jordan Family athletes and celebrities and their achievements. Even his son, Marcus Jordan is releasing his own versions of the Air Jordans. How that revenue is distributed within the family is a Jordan family secret.

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