Michael Jordan is a lot of things. He is, to a fair number of people, the greatest basketball player in the history of the NBA. He’s also the richest athlete in the history of the world, with a net worth of over a billion dollars. His silhouette can be found on one of the most successful athletic shoe companies in the world. He’s notoriously mean, and was especially mean to his former teammates during his playing days. He was a notorious trash talker and would frequently belittle his opponents He is a problematic gambler, an avid golfer, and he was in Space Jam. Michael Jordan’s immense talent and competitive spirit have made him one of the most interesting and successful athletes to ever play any sport. Beyond that, his business smarts and long, long list of endorsements have helped him join the ranks of the super rich. Here’s how much money Michael Jordan has and how he amassed his wealth.
Michael Jordan Net Worth 2018 – $1.14 Billion
How Did Michael Jordan Make His Money and Wealth?
Michael Jeffrey Jordan, now commonly referred to as MJ, was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1963. His mom was a banker and his dad had a job as an equipment supervisor. What Jordan was just a little kid, his family relocated to North Carolina, where he’d spend all of his years as a youth and young man. He has two brothers and two sisters, and when he was in high school in North Carolina, he played basketball, baseball and football. He was famously cut from the varsity basketball team in his sophomore year because he was too small. That year, he grew four inches, trained a lot, and the next season he made the varsity team and was very good. He had two successful seasons of high school basketball after that, and was highly sought after by various colleges. He accepted a scholarship from North Carolina’s basketball program, where he would further hone his skills.
In the NBA, Michael Jordan quickly became a sport-defining star. He earned the nicknames “Air Jordan” and “His Airness” for his huge dunks and high-flying style. He brought increased attention and publicity to the NBA, and changed the way the game was played. He won an incredible number of awards, set countless offensive records, and was also regarded as one of the best defenders in the league. His skills on the basketball court were matched only by his sense for marketing. Every step along the way, Michael Jordan had numerous massive endorsement deals that paid him handsomely, most notably the success of Nike’s Air Jordan shoes. He is considered to be one of the most heavily marketed athletes ever, and his endorsements make him around $40 million every year. Jordan won three straight championships in the early ’90s, and then quit basketball to play baseball. He came out of retirement and won another three straight championships in the NBA, and then retired again. He came back into the league a third time in the early 2000s, as a member of the Washington Wizards, and played two more seasons before retiring for good. He bought partial ownership of the Charlotte Bobcats NBA team in 2006, also serving as their Head of Basketball Operations. Since then, he has been consistently increasing his ownership in the Bobcats team, as it has been very lucrative for him.
Michael Jordan Personal Life & FAQ
Is Michael Jordan Married?
Michael Jordan has been married two times. The first time came in 1989 and was to Juanita Vanoy. They filed for divorce in 2002, but would then get back together shortly after. They filed for divorce again, and their marriage was dissolved in late 2006. In the divorce, Juanita received a settlement of $168 million. At the time of this settlement it was the largest celebrity divorce settlement on public record, but it has since been eclipsed.
Jordan’s love life was in the news for a while in 2006, when he was taken to court by a former lover because of a contract the two of them had made. Jordan had been in a secret relationship with Karla Knafel, and had given her a quarter of a million dollars to keep their relationship as a secret. In the suit, Knafel claimed that Jordan had actually promised her $5 million, and had refused to pay. The payment was said to be both to keep the relationship a secret, and to ensure that she would not file a paternity test after she had learned that she was pregnant back in the early ’90s. It turned out that Michael Jordan was not the father of that child anyway. In the court case, the judge also ruled that Jordan did not owe Knafel the $5 million she was asking for.
In 2011, it reached media attention that Jordan had proposed to his girlfriend, Cuban-American model Yvette Prieto. The two of them would get married in 2013, and in 2014, Prieto gave birth to identical twins.
Does Michael Jordan Have Kids?
Michael Jordan has two sons from his first marriage with Juanita Vanoy: Jeffrey Michael Jordan, 27, and Marcus James Jordan, 25. Both of his sons attended a private Catholic high school, and both went on to play college basketball although neither of them would have much success with basketball compared with their dad. Jordan also has two daughters, Victoria and Ysabel. They are identical twins who were born in 2014.
Where Did Michael Jordan Go To College?
After his success in high school, Michael Jordan was highly coveted by various prestigious college basketball programs, including Duke and Syracuse. He elected to go to North Carolina because of their strong basketball system, not to mention the fact that it meant that he didn’t have to leave the state where he grew up. He played three seasons in North Carolina and was an impact player right from start to finish, popularizing the North Carolina basketball jersey, and helping them to grow into one of the best basketball schools in the country to this day. Jordan left North Carolina after three years, during which he studied cultural geography. Though he left the school before he got his degree, he would go back and finish his degree during his downtime a few years later.
Where Does Michael Jordan Live? Picture of Michael Jordan’s House
Beyond his massive, expensive house, Jordan also famously has a custom private jet. The jet has a stripe of what is referred to as “Carolina Blue” as a reference to his college basketball days, as well as the Air Jordan logo at the rear of the plane. The jet is said to be worth $50 million. Jordan uses his jet to get to and from various residences all over the world, aside from that famous mansion in Illinois.
How Much Did Michael Jordan Earn Last Year?
Last year, Jordan made $100 million in endorsements alone, which is pretty good for someone who is fifty-two years old. One of the craziest things about Michael Jordan’s finances is how he makes more money in endorsements now than he ever did as an active player. In fact, recently he has been making more from one year of endorsements than he made in salary in his entire playing career. When Jordan was playing in the NBA at the peak of his career, he was receiving a salary of $30 million per year, which was unheard of at the time. He was able to command this kind of money because of the direct relation between his play and the financial success of his team, the Chicago Bulls. When Jordan was playing, the game would always be a sell-out and everyone made money.
His most famous endorsement deal is with Nike, but he also has big deals with Gatorade, Coca-Cola, and McDonalds. Beyond his endorsement income, his net worth increases with the value of the Charlotte Bobcats basketball franchise, of which he owns 89%. With the Bobcats currently valued around $600 million, that puts the worth of Jordan’s ownership of the team at around $416 million. It is the value of this asset combined with Jordan’s other wealth of around $600 million that put his overall net worth at over a billion dollars.
Michael Jordan’s Charity Work and Philanthropy
Michael Jordan has put his wealth to good use in many ways, getting involved in a range of charity endeavours. He works with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Make a Wish Foundation, and various other charities and hospitals.
He is frequently hosting and playing in celebrity golf tournaments for charity. In 2006, he gave $5 million to a Chicago high school for improvements, and he has made significant donations to Habitat for Humanity.
Major Life Changing Events
One of the events that Michael Jordan frequently refers to as having been career-defining for him came back in 1982. While playing for North Carolina, he hit what would come to be known as “the shot,” to win the NCAA championship right at the buzzer and give his career momentum.
In 1993, Michael Jordan shocked the world of sports when he announced that he didn’t want to play basketball anymore. This decision was spurred by the lost of his father, who had been murdered months before. Jordan’s dad had always wanted for his son to be a professional baseball player, so Jordan decided to try to play baseball. He signed a minor league contact with a Chicago team and played baseball for one year. He was a sufficient but by no means spectacular player. After one year of baseball, he quit and rejoined the NBA, where he would immediately get back on track and win another championship the next year.
Back in 1993, there was controversy surrounding Jordan when he was seen gambling in Atlantic City the night before a game. Over the years, it has been disclosed that Jordan has frequently lost tens of thousands of dollars while gambling, and has lost over a million dollars in golf-related bets.
