Michael Jordan is one of the 290 newly-minted billionaires on Forbes’ annual list of the world’s richest people. He’s certainly one of the most recognizable names on the list — sorry, LeBron.
Jordan amassed his $1 billion fortune partly through his endorsement deal with Nike (NKE). The Jordan brand by Nike brought in an estimated $2.25 billion in 2013, which earned the 52 year-old athlete $90 million, according to Forbes.
But it was Jordan’s ownership of the Charlotte Hornets basketball team that catapulted him into the billionaire’s ranks this year. NBA teams soared in value after Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) CEO, paid $2 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers.
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All told, the world’s 1,826 billionaires have a combined net worth of $7.05 trillion, up from $6.4 trillion in 2014.
Topping the list are the usual suspects: Microsoft’s Bill Gates ($79.2 billion); cellphone magnate Carlos Slim ($77.1 billion) and value investor Warren Buffett ($72.7 billion). All three saw their net worth increase last year.
As in years past, Silicon Valley is the place to be for young billionaires.
Among the 46 billionaires under 40 years old were executives at Uber, Airbnb and Snapchat.
