Michael Jordan’s 2023 salary from Nike has reached absolutely ridiculous levels.
The NBA icon was recognized in October as the first-ever athlete to crack Forbes’ annual list of the 400 richest Americans, with his net worth soaring to $4.7 billion.
It’s no secret that his contract with Nike, as well as an agreement with Giant Sportswear surrounding his personal “Jordan” brand, are the real source of his wealth.
Details of the deal surrounding Jordan Brand, which uses the iconic “Jumpman” logo, surfaced this week, with sports business guru Joe Pompliano noting that Jordan’s salary from the deal this year will be close to $500 million ($3,300 One hundred million U.S. dollars).
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The scary part is that the 5% royalties Jordan receives will continue to balloon in the coming years as Nike sets ambitious goals for brand growth.
The 60-year-old will earn more than $100 million ($70 million) more in royalties this year in 2023 than he did in 2022.
Pompliano described the deal Jordan negotiated in 1984 as “the greatest sports business deal in history.”
As we all know, when Jordan entered his NBA rookie season in 1984, offers from Converse, Adidas and Nike were being considered, a deal that never happened.
Although Nike was Jordan’s third choice, Jordan was linked to the brand because it paid $250,000, discounting other offers.
The rest is history.
At the time, Nike was preparing to release its new “Air Sole Technology,” which provided one of the greatest hype in marketing history for the first shoes to be branded “Air Jordans.”
Jordan’s agent David Falk said that Nike’s “Air Jordan” brand goal in 2020 is to reach $3 million in sales within the first four years.
“The first year, we sold $126 million,” Falk said in 2020.
The brand, represented by the Chicago Bulls legend’s leaping, bounding silhouette, remains just one of the many sources of wealth the basketball player has tapped into.
He reportedly earned $US149 million ($94 million) in 15 NBA seasons and was the league’s highest-paid player in ’97 and ’98.
But it was Jordan’s off-court efforts that made him a billionaire. In many ways, the retired pro became the blueprint for the kinds of lucrative brand deals that are the bread and butter of today’s athletes.
Off the court, Jordan earned an estimated $3.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in pre-tax income during his career through brand deals with companies including McDonald’s, Gatorade and Nike, according to Forbes.
However, one of Jordan’s most lucrative recent windfalls came when he sold his majority stake in NBA team the Charlotte Hornets for an eye-popping $4.7 billion ($3 billion) valuation.
It was the second-highest sale price in league history and more than 17 times the value of the team when Jordan became the majority owner in 2010.
The sale, announced in August, puts Jordan’s net worth at more than $4.7 billion and makes him the first-ever professional athlete to make the Forbes 400, a list of the 400 richest people in America.
“Michael is one of the few people who has had three hits,” Ted Leonsis, who has worked with Jordan on several investments, told Forbes.
“A lot of entrepreneurs, they get it right the first time. They hit it big, take the bonus, retire, and then (we) never hear from them again, or they try something a second time and it doesn’t work out. “He had three huge successes (as a player, as an owner and as the face behind Nike’s Air Jordan). “
“He was a brand before people were talking about a human brand,” added Marc Ganis, president of consulting firm Sportscorp.
“This isn’t Michael Jordan promoting Gatorade, this is Gatorade saying, ‘Drink Gatorade to be more like Michael.'”
According to Forbes, only three professional athletes have reached billionaire status — first Jordan in 2014, followed by LeBron James and Tiger Woods.
Jordan retains a small stake in the Hornets, keeping him connected to the court, but many are watching to see what he does next.