The NBA legend Magic Johnson recently joined the billion-dollar club along with Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, and Cristiano Ronaldo making him the only fifth athlete to achieve this feat. Magic had accomplished this by using his abilities as a smart buisnessman outside the basketball court.
He made smart investments in the past that paid him heavy dividends in the present allowing him to establish a multi-billion dollar empire. However, he missed one opportunity that would have allowed him to hit Billionaire status maybe even earlier than Michael Jordan and he regrets missing out on it.
Magic Johnson revealed his missed opportunity
Magic Johnson had already made a name for himself in the basketball community before even enrolling in the NBA draft. His stellar performance as a college student had already made the sports brands aware of his potential as a future star in the NBA. When he graduated from college that’s when the opportunity presented came.
When Johnson graduated from college many sports brands came after him with endorsement deals, one of them was the now sports giant Nike. Johnson recalled the incident and said, “When I first came out of college, all shoe companies were after me, and this guy, Phil Knight, who just started Nike. The other companies offered money, but he couldn’t offer money because they had just started. So he said, ‘Stock. I am going to give you a lot of stock.’ I did not know anything about stocks. I am from the inner city. We do not know about stocks.”
Magic Johnson rejected Nike’s offer and went with a $100,000 deal with the sports brand Converse. The amount worth of stocks that Nike offered has not been revealed but assuming it was the same worth as the Converse deal and if Magic had accepted that offer, those stocks would have been worth around $5.2 billion at present time.
Magic regretted that decision recently in the HBO’s series “Winning Time” and said, “Boy, did I make a mistake. I am still kicking myself. Every time I am in a Nike Store, I feel mad. I would have been making money off of everybody getting Nikes right now.”
Johnson hits billionaire mark
Magic Johnson’s net worth recently hit the billion-dollar mark and it was announced by Forbes on their official X account. This makes Johnson the fourth athelete in the world with a net worth of one billion or more. This made him the third only basketball athlete to achieve this feat.
The key to his success lies in his skills outside the court. He once said that he believed in making money while people slept, which is exactly what he did. His NBA career earnings only make a fraction of his total estimated net worth and the majority of the wealth he accumulated comes from his business investments in the restaurant business, owning stakes in sports teams, and endorsement deals.
What do you think of Magic Johnson achieving the Billionaire status? What would you think would have happened if Magic had accepted Nike’s offer? We are eager to know your thoughts, so make sure to drop them down in the comments section.
