This is how the NBA’s all-time leading scorer created his billionaire empire

Brian Windhorst is one of the insider journalists closest to LeBron James’ environment. In 2019 he published a book, LeBron INC, in which he discussed how he had built his business empire beyond basketball. Barely three years later, he is already on the verge of being outdated, as he has not stopped investing in new businesses. In June 2022 he became the first active basketball player to become a billionaire and yesterday he became the all-time leading scorer in the NBA. His business facet is part of his personal brand and the new projects have a common denominator: they all pivot towards content creation.

LeBron James’s fortune was estimated at $680 million at the end of 2022 and more than 60% comes from endorsement contracts and businesses he has founded or invested in. What’s more, only five more athletes have surpassed the barrier of 1,000 million in income Active: Tiger Woods, Floyd Mayweather, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Roger Federer. Michael Jordan, the only billionaire basketball player, didn’t make it until 2014.

LeBron James’s business started at the beginning of his NBA career and focused on his closest circle: Rich Paul, Maverick Carter and later Randy Mims. With no business experience whatsoever, the four made their way using LeBron’s own platform as an NBA star. The four called themselves Four Horsemen (Four Horsemen) and their first project was to found the LRMR Marketing agency, with their initials.

Currently that agency is not active, since Paul began his journey as a representative of players, including LeBron, his teammate in the Lakers Anthony Davis, Ben Simmons, Draymond Green or Lonzo Ball, among others. Carter, for his part, continues to accompany him on projects such as SpringHilland Mims, a childhood friend of LeBron’s, is currently on the Lakers board, just as it has been in all the franchises where he has played.

LeBron has managed his empire hand in hand with his main friends, also partners

The group’s first big bet came with the entry into the capital of Blaze Pizza. LeBron became one of his first investors and set the trend for his sponsorship concept: giving up the mere economic transaction to, instead, acquire shares in companies and act as a brand ambassador and not the mere image of a campaign. Now, that hasn’t exempted him from signing traditional endorsement deals with giants like AT&T, Calm and, more recently, Pepsiafter 17 years associated with Coca-Cola.

In the case of Blaze Pizza, LeBron broke his agreement with McDonald’s and even compensated the company to make the investment in 2012. the LRMR group he invested a million dollars and in 2017 the value of his shares already exceeded 40 million dollars. In just four years it went from two establishments to 200 throughout the country and its expansion is still underway.

Later it would arrive Ladder, a sports nutrition company he founded with his personal trainer, Mike Mancias, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. In parallel, the LRMR group invested in Upper Deck, dedicated to the authentication of licensed items, and Rimowa, which began as a typical sponsorship to end up positioning LeBron as the main face of his brand after giving him a share in the capital.

A year ago he entered the fitness sector as a shareholder and ambassador of Hyperice and Tonal. He is also involved in mixed reality projects by investing in the start-up StatusPro together with Naomi Osaka and other athletes and in the Canyon bike manufacturerwho took advantage of the player’s famous fondness for moving around on a bike to attract him in his round of 30 million.

LeBron’s business career takes a turn after meeting Gerry Cardinale

One of his most successful investments has been in the Beats headphone brand. At the time, LeBron made the largest cash payment for an endorsement, supplemented by equity in the company. Beats by Dre It went from being a brand foreign to the consumer to one of the most demanded in the United States in a matter of months. Even more so when, in the middle of the Olympic Games, LeBron gave each member of the Dream Team headphones of his brand that they took throughout the tour and the Village, circumventing the IOC advertising regulation and accessing a world showcase for weeks. The company was sold to Apple years later for $3 billion.

LeBron’s investments begin to take a radical turn when knows Gerry Cardinale, RedBird founder. It is then that Paul sets up his representation agency, Carter enters Nike and other entertainment companies, and LeBron consolidates his career with the rings in the Miami Heat.

The NBA star begins to integrate into his most intimate group top executives like Cardinale who, in addition to offering new perspectives, take investments to the next level. The main one occurred together with Cardinale, becoming a minority partner of Fenway Sports Group through RedBird, and that he owns the Boston Red Sox and has a stake in Liverpool FC. Both LeBron and Carter have seats on the council.

Through RedBird it has also become one of the shareholders of the AC Milan and Toulouse FC. The holding company has entered the 25 most valuable organizations in sports this year and also has 13% of the Yes Network, which has some of the main audiovisual contracts at the regional level in New York, such as those of the Knicks, Nets or Yankees.

The endorsement of Nike and its entry into entertainment

Although LeBron James’ path as an entrepreneur may seem anomalous, it would hardly have been possible. without the accompaniment of Nike. From the brand they have supervised their business activity, not without discrepancies, because a large part of the decisions remained at the doors of the LRMR group.

However, the great global media platform that both Nike and the NBA have built has been the only one capable of boosting LeBron’s facet as an entrepreneur, as happened in its day with Jordan as a commercial and cultural icon. The difference between LeBron and other former stars like Magic Johnson is that his investments are no longer just in traditional businesses, but have evolved into the new digital business

One of his first steps was fundar Uninterrupted, in full demand for the voice of athletes and expansion of the American medium The Player’s Tribune. LeBron went a step further by betting on video content and podcasts, a bet that has proven successful today. In fact, it has always been speculated that his signing by the Los Angeles Lakers had more to do with his business facet than with his sports side, despite the ring he achieved.

The entertainment industry is concentrated in Los Angeles and since his arrival he has closed the largest corporate agreements for his companies. The facts thus corroborate it. The production company set up with Maverick Carter, SpringHill Entertainment, has won contracts with Netflix, Apple, Universal and Disney, among others. It also produces content such as The Shop for HBO and even the movie Space Jam: A New Legacywhich stars himself.

Just as Brady paved the way for equity partnerships with his deal with Under Armour, LeBron has paved the way for athletes in the entertainment world. More and more players are getting involved in similar projects, although few with the scalability that LeBron has achieved thanks to his investor circle. The tests show it like this: SpringHill was valued at 725 million of dollars (615 million euros) and its large corporate partners, Nike, Epic Games, RedBird and Fenway, have responded to the call and entered its capital in October 2021.