LeBron James has added another title to his collection: billionaire. Forbes estimated the Los Angeles Lakers star\u2019s net worth at $1bn in a report published on Thursday. He is the first active NBA player to reach the status.<\/p>\n
Michael Jordan, whose net worth Forbes has pegged at $1.7bn, didn\u2019t reach billionaire status until 11 years after he retired. Forbes estimated James earned $121.2 million last year, a figure eclipsed only by Lionel Messi, who brought in $130m.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it happens. It\u2019s my biggest milestone,\u201d James said at the time. \u201cObviously. I want to maximize my business. And if I happen to get it, if I happen to be a billion-dollar athlete, ho. Hip hip hooray! Oh, my God, I\u2019m gonna be excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite earning close to $400m in salary during his NBA career with the Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, James\u2019 off-court earnings far eclipse that. Forbes estimated James, 37, has brought in more than $900m from business investments and endorsements.<\/p>\n
Those include his entertainment group, SpringHill, which he sold a minority stake in for $725m, according to Forbes. SpringHill has produced shows such as The Shop and a docuseries on Naomi Osaka, as well as the film Space Jam: A New Legacy, which James starred in.<\/p>\n
He also has a 1% stake in Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool FC, the Boston Red Sox and recently agreed to buy the NHL\u2019s Pittsburgh Penguins. James bought a 10% stake in Blaze Pizza for less than $1m in 2012, which Forbes says is now worth $30m.<\/p>\n
The 37-year-old\u2019s real estate portfolio is estimated to be worth $80m, and includes a $10m property in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, and two homes in Los Angeles worth a combined $60m.<\/p>\n
James was raised by a single mother in Akron, and has put significant money back in his hometown, opening a school and planning housing and a community center to assist families and children.<\/p>\n
On the court, James has won four NBA championships, been named league MVP four times and been selected to 18 All-Star teams. He also has won two Olympic gold medals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LeBron James has added another title to his collection: billionaire. Forbes estimated the Los Angeles Lakers star\u2019s net worth at $1bn in a report published on Thursday. He is the first active NBA player to reach the status. Michael Jordan, whose net worth Forbes has pegged at $1.7bn, didn\u2019t reach billionaire status until 11 years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":22859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80,3295],"tags":[5717,5483,287,10507,5195,6517,6738,13213,5718,1445,5918,4202,10598,11715,6654,3449,6913,1113,197,7123,1273,6283,10210,3322,5612,9510,830,3283,9534,11385,9746,6544,12273,5261,6736,5470,594],"class_list":["post-22858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-world-sport","tag-billionaire","tag-boston","tag-children","tag-court","tag-dollar","tag-eclipse","tag-families","tag-fenway-sports-group","tag-forbes","tag-god","tag-gold","tag-ho","tag-homes","tag-housing","tag-jordan","tag-lebron-james","tag-lebron-jones","tag-lionel-messi","tag-liverpool","tag-los-angeles","tag-messi","tag-miami","tag-miami-heat","tag-michael-jordan","tag-money","tag-mvp","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-nba","tag-ohio","tag-olympic","tag-pittsburgh","tag-property","tag-real-estate","tag-salary","tag-school","tag-space","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}