Forbes recently released their list of the 25 Highest-Paid Athletes of All Time, which includes several golfers, soccers players, race car drivers, boxers etc. but none had more career earnings than Michael Jordan.
According to Forbes, Jordan ranks as the highest paid athlete of all-time with career earning of $1.85 billion.
Jordan’s longtime endorsements with Gatorade, Hanes, Nike and Upper Deck have certainly helped him achieve such astronomical numbers, but Forbes’ Kurt Badenhausen says MJ’s biggest move, which made him a billionaire, was buying the Charlotte Bobcats in 2010 for $175 million. The team, now known as the Charlotte Hornets once again, is now worth $780 million – and MJ has a 90% stake.
Tiger Woods, who boasts career earnings of $1.7 billion, was second on the list followed by fellow golf legend Arnold Palmer ($1.4B), who passed away in 2016. Rounding out the Top-5 highest paid athletes of all time is Jack Nicklaus, $1.2 billion, and F1 driver Michael Schumacher, $1 billion.
Kobe Bryant and David Beckham tied for the seventh spot with $800 million each, Floyd Mayweather ranked ninth ($785M), Shaq and LeBron came in at 10th and 11th on the list, respectively, and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo checked in 12th overall with career earning of $725 million.
The 25 highest-paid athletes of all time featured a mix of eight sports, with golf, basketball and boxing landing five entries each. You can check out the full list right here.
Highest-paid athletes of all-time via @forbes (inflation-adjusted):
1. MJ $1.85B
2. Tiger $1.7B
3. Palmer $1.4B
4. Nicklaus $1.2B
5. Schumacher $1B https://t.co/OkJLozdBBn— Kurt Badenhausen (@kbadenhausen) December 13, 2017
