According to Forbes, the fortune of basketball legend Magic Johnson has exceeded one billion dollars.
Magic Johnson is only the fourth athlete to join the billionaires club. EPA / AOP
Former basketball star Magic Johnson64, is now a billionaire, a financial magazine Forbes declare. Forbes estimates Johnson’s wealth at around 1.2 billion dollars (approx. 1.1 billion euros).
Johnson is only the fourth athlete to join the billionaires’ club. Basketball players Michael Jordan and LeBron James and golfer Tiger Woods.
Johnson has invested in several companies and owns several sports teams. However, according to Forbes, most of his wealth comes from his stake in a life insurance company.
After his sports career, Johnson has invested in, among others, Starbucks, Burger King and the life insurance company Equitrust.
The former basketball great had a legendary career in the NBA, but he has made most of his money off the basketball court. According to Forbes, Johnson earned “only” $40 million during his NBA career.
During his career, Johnson won five NBA championships and was selected to the All-Star game 12 times. He played his entire NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Johnson says he might have joined the billionaire club earlier if he hadn’t turned down Nike stock early in his NBA career in the 1970s. Instead of Nike, which was still unknown at the time, he signed a contract with Converse, which offered him $100,000 a year.
Johnson said All the Smoke –on the podcast earlier this year that his Nike stock would be worth $5 billion today if he had chosen otherwise.