Top 4 Richest Sports Stars in the World

Jenny Lee April 17, 2024 | 11:25

Magic Johnson, the former American basketball star, has just joined Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Tiger Woods on the list of world billionaires.

When you think of the richest sports stars in the world, you immediately think of the king sport, football, and names like Ronaldo and Messi. Since June 2020, Ronaldo has been on Forbes' list of sports stars and billionaires. However, the list we updated in November 2023 only includes the four people listed below.

1. Magic Johnson

Magic Johnson

According to Forbes data, Magic Johnson's net worth is currently $1.2 billion. This helps the former LA Lakers basketball team star follow in the footsteps of Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Tiger Woods to become billionaires born from athletes.

During his career, Magic Johnson played 13 seasons for the Lakers before retiring due to HIV infection. The former star born in 1959 earned $40 million from his basketball career.

Most of Magic Johnson's assets come from the insurance company EquiTrust, where he bought shares in 2015. This company has an asset value of up to 26 billion USD and revenue of over 2.5 billion USD per year. Besides, Johhson also invested in cable TV, movie theaters, gyms and Starbucks franchises.

2. Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is currently the richest billionaire born from a sports athlete with an estimated net worth of three billion USD. Earlier this month, the 60-year-old former basketball star was on the list of the 400 richest people in America.

Michael Jordan earned $94 million in 15 seasons playing in the NBA. Most of his wealth comes from business and cooperation with big brands. The former Chicago Bulls star earned about 2.4 billion USD before taxes from contracts with McDonald's, Gatorade, Hanes or Nike. Most recently, the NBA legend "pocketed" $260 million in annual royalties from Nike.

3. LeBron James

LeBron James

LeBron James joined the list of world billionaires in 2022 and still maintains a fortune of one billion USD. The LA Lakers star and Tiger Woods are two billionaires who are still playing at the top. Most of LeBron James's wealth comes from his basketball career. After 21 NBA seasons, he earned $479 million, more than 10 times more than Magic Johnson and 5 times more than Michael Jordan.

4. Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

In June 2022, Forbes named Tiger Woods a billionaire. As of right now, Tiger Woods has a net worth of 1.1 billion USD. The 47-year-old golf celebrity made over $120 million during his career. His endorsement deals with companies like Gatorade, Monster Energy, TaylorMade, Rolex, or Nike account for the majority of his wealth.

In addition, Tiger Woods also cooperates with music star Justin Timberlake and British billionaire Joe Lewis to invest in luxury real estate.

7 'Paradoxical' Habits To Help You Get Rich and Successful- Life Lesson

Laziness, love of criticism, failure... seems to go against the classic views of getting rich, but it is a habit that helps many billionaires succeed.

Top 10 Youngest Billionaires in the World - Under 30 (2023/2024)

Who are the youngest, richest people in the world today? Following is the ranking of Top 10 world billionaires under 30 years old by Forbes ...

Top 10 Most Beautiful and Talented Daughters of Billionaires

The majority of the world's tycoon families have beautiful and talented "princesses." Let's talk about ten extremely attractive and talented billionaire daughters.