No list of the greatest basketball players in history would be complete without LeBron James. In fact, in some ways, based on his scoring, blocks, etc. statistics, he is the best ever. He is also one of the richest athletes of all time. His wealth doesn't just come from playing basketball, though. James has dabbled in the fashion world, invested in restaurants, and even appeared in some of your favorite TV shows and movies. Therefore, no other active athlete can match James in terms of net worth.
The NBA star didn't come from a wealthy background, as his mother struggled to provide for the family during his childhood. James seemed to know how to handle money from an early age, thanks to some financial advice from his family. “My uncles always taught me — they taught me how to have a savings account,” James recalled on the Nonstop podcast. "They'd give me a dollar and say, 'Listen, nephew, spend 35 cents and keep the other 65 cents.'" Or if they gave me two dollars, they'd say, 'Take one dollar, but hide the other dollar. '"
Read on to learn more about how James earned over $1 billion and how he's preparing for life after the NBA.
6 Ways LeBron James Makes Millions
1. Basketball
The moment he was drafted into the NBA straight out of high school, James' life changed forever and his net worth exploded. During his career as a professional basketball player, which now spans nearly 20 years, he earned more than $600 million on the court, not including sales of merchandise bearing his name, number or likeness.
Here are all the contracts James has signed and their values (according to Spotrac , which tracks contracts, salaries and more for all major sports organizations).
- 2003-2006 - Cleveland Cavaliers - $18.8 million
- 2007-2010 - Cleveland Cavaliers - $60.4 million
- 2010-2013 - Miami Heat - $110 million
- 2014 - Miami Heat - $42.2 million
- 2015-2016 - Cleveland Cavaliers - $47 million
- 2016-2017 - Cleveland Cavaliers - $100 million
- 2018-2021 - Los Angeles Lakers - $153.3 million
- 2022-2023 - Los Angeles Lakers - $85 million
2. Clothing and accessories
In 2003, James signed his first contract with Nike when he was only 18 years old and his career had just begun. According to Forbes , the shoemaker spent $90 million over seven years, and that wasn't the only offer he received at the time. Adidas and Reebok were also interested, with the latter actually putting in more money ($115 million), but the player chose to stay with a company he wanted to work with long-term, Celebrity Net Worth reported.
In 2015, James made history by renewing his contract with Nike. The player signed a lifetime deal with the apparel group, which pays him tens of millions of dollars a year and could ultimately be worth $1 billion to him, according to his business partners. In 2019, Forbes reported that James had earned $32 million from his sneaker deal with Nike the previous year alone.
Building on his success in the shoe industry, James co-founded a store in Miami called UNKNWN. The store has its own basketball court and sells sneakers and apparel, including its own private label line.
3. Exercise
James has made hundreds of millions of dollars on the basketball court, but he has also used his resources to invest in other sports-related ventures that have increased his net worth over time.
In 2011, he invested $6.5 million for a minority stake in the English football team Liverpool Football Club. In just seven years, the basketball player's down payment (which reportedly gave him a 2% stake in the brand) has multiplied as the team became more and more successful. His stake was estimated to be worth $45 million by 2018, according to sports investment banking sources who spoke to ESPN .
In 2021, he transferred that 2% to a purported 1% stake in Fenway Sports Group, which acquired the Liverpool-based football team. The group also owns the Boston Red Sox, Roush Fenway Racing and cable channel NESN. At the time, Forbes estimated the group was worth $7.35 billion, making James' small stake worth at least $70 million. FSG is reportedly worth nearly $10 billion by 2022, so the value of his holdings in the company continues to climb and could exceed $90 million.
In 2018, James teamed up with actor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger to launch a company called Ladder, which describes itself as “a sports nutrition company dedicated to creating high-performance, NSF-certified daily Use sports supplements.” James was apparently inspired to create the company after suffering performance-related cramps. The pair sold the company to fitness technology platform Openfit in 2020, and according to Forbes , James may have earned as much as $28 million in stock from the deal.
James co-founded the sports marketing company LRMR Marketing with his friends Rich Paul, Maverick Carter and Randy Mims, which was created in a man's mother's kitchen. The company has developed marketing campaigns for a number of projects, perhaps most notably James' primetime television special "The Decision ," about his announcement to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat. The event may not have been well-received, but it did raise millions of dollars for charity, according to ESPN .
4. Food and beverages
In 2010, when James was just beginning his tenure as one of the NBA's top players, he signed a deal to promote McDonald's. He expanded the partnership in 2012 and has since signed for $4 million per year, according to the Washington Post . In 2015, despite a fast-food option offering him $15 million, he pulled the plug on the deal, Forbes reported.
Rather than stick with McDonald's, James decided to take a risk and invest in Blaze Pizza, then a fledgling restaurant chain. ESPN reported that in 2012, he invested $1 million in the company for a 10% stake in the brand. His stake could now be worth between $35 million and $40 million, according to Bleacher Report . The "Forbes" article stated that he has 17 regional franchise stores and that by the end of 2022, Blaze Pizza's sales may exceed $1 billion.
In November 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported that James continued to invest in the food industry and entered the alcohol business for the first time. He spent a fortune to become an angel investor in the tequila brand Lobos 1707.
5. Endorsement and investment
Part of the reason James is worth so much is that some of his deals with companies aren't just for large one-time payments, but for "equity in the brands he works with, giving him a piece of the upside, and Not a cut of the profits.” According to Forbes , the paycheck comes quickly.
While that may be true, James also signed up to be a spokesperson, and he could potentially earn millions of dollars from appearing in events, commercials, and commercials for companies in various industries. Over the years, he has worked with AT&T, Audemars Piguet, Baskin Robbins (and Dunkin Donuts in Asia), Calm, Candy Crush, Crypto.com, Hummer, Intel, Kia, Lyft, Microsoft, Mountain Dew, Powerade, Ruffles, Samsung, Sprite, State Farm, Taco Bell, Tonal, Uber, Walmart and Wheaties.
James was also an early investor in Beats By Dre headphones and once owned 1% of the company's shares. When Apple acquired the brand for $3 billion in 2014, he appeared to make $30 million from the sale, according to Celebrity Net Worth . Some media outlets believe he took home a much higher amount - perhaps as much as $700 million - although that figure has not been confirmed.
6. Film, Television and Media
In 2007, several companies with ties to James merged to form the production company SpringHill Entertainment. Since then, the brand has been a behind-the-scenes sponsor of films such as My Name: Muhammad Ali , Space Jam: A New Legacy, House Party and Con . In television, the company has helped bring shows like "Survivor's Remorse," "The Wall," "The Shop," "Shut Up and Dribble," "Million Dollar Mile " and "The Playbook" to the small screen. Over the past few years, SpringHill Entertainment has signed deals with major players in the industry such as ABC and Warner Bros.
According to Forbes , several investors poured money into the production company in 2021, which was valued at $725 million at the time. Fortune magazine estimates that the company may now be worth $300 million to James alone. SpringHill Entertainment's portfolio includes Uninterrupted, an online media outlet for players and their fans. According to the company's website, its goal is to "inspire athletes and sports culture figures to excel through entertainment, products and apparel, social impact and events." According to Mashable , the company had received at least $15.8 million in funding at one point, but there are concerns There isn't much public information about the platform's financial health.
What is LeBron James's net worth?
US$1 billion
According to Forbes , James has earned $1.2 billion in pre-tax income throughout his career, with more than $900 million coming from off-court activities. The financial publication estimates his net worth will reach $850 million in 2021, an increase of at least $150 million in about a year, making him the second NBA player to become a billionaire after Michael Jordan . In 2022, Forbes ranked James as the second-highest-paid athlete in the world, with an income of more than $121 million. This broke his own record for the most earnings for an NBA player in a single year, which he had raised to $96.5 million the previous year.
