(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
What is amazing about Michael Jordan being No. 4 and No. 1?
The former Carolina college star and Chicago Bulls super star is the fourth wealthiest person on the 2018 athletes and celebrity list. What is more amazing is Jordan is still the top-earning athlete in the world — and hasn’t played a basketball game in almost 20 years.
Jordan’s net worth is estimated at $1.7 billion by Forbes Magazine, including 90 percent ownership of the Charlotte Hornets franchise that increased in worth by $300 million in the last year. Most of MJ’s wealth still comes from Nike and his iconic Jumpman brand that features the Nike “swoosh” and the in-flight Jordan silhouette on everything from sneakers of all styles and colors to shirts and shorts of all kinds.
The top three on the Forbes list are movie producers George Lucas ($5.4 billion) and Steven Spielberg (3.7 billion) and media mogul Oprah Winfrey (2.7). Jordan is next and the only other athlete in the top 10 is Tiger Woods, who is tied for No. 9 with best-selling author James Patterson at a net worth of $800 million. Woods is still active and, of course, was once worth more than a billion dollars before his string of personal setbacks and injuries that stalled and almost ended his golf career and cost him millions in endorsements.
Like Lucas, Spielberg, Winfrey and Woods, everyone else in the Forbes top 10 is still making money by making things. Kylie Jenner, Jay Z, David Copperfield and Diddy are all making music or news or magic, and Patterson is still writing books. Jordan’s riches are more like passive income because he owns his likeness and a basketball team. According to Forbes, Jordan climbed up the ranks with a $300 million net worth increase, partially because of the rising value of NBA franchises and also from net revenues derived from the sales and marketing of Air Jordans and other athletic gear with his logo. Forbes estimated that Jordan’s stake in the Hornets is worth $800 million.
Jordan had an estimated worth of $1.4 billion on the 2017 list. So, at 55, Michael may be getting older, but he is also getting richer. Not bad for a middle-class kid from Wilmington, North Carolina.
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