LeBron James is praised worldwide as one of the greatest NBA stars of all time.
In fact, he’s such an incredible basketball player that he is constantly named in rivalry with Micheal Jordan for the ultimate title of NBA GOAT.
Whenever LeBron James displays his impressive skills on the court, it’s always met with roars and excitement from his fans, which is nearly always the case with his games.
Remarkably, Michael Jordan has been a billionaire for many years, but LeBron James is fast making waves in the same sphere.
In the summer of 2022, it was announced that the four-time NBA Champion was officially a billionaire.
Many people claim LeBron James is closer than ever to claiming TWO titles from Michael Jordan: the NBA GOAT title and the richest NBA star ever.
But how true is this?
And just how much money does LeBron James have?
Well, you’re about to find out.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the vast portfolio and earnings of this incredible athlete.
Is LeBron James a Billionaire?
In June 2022, Forbes, the most reliable source regarding the net worth of public figures, revealed that LeBron James was worth $1 billion.1
That’s right! LeBron James is the latest member of the NBA’s billion-dollar club and the only active basketball player to be worth such an outrageous sum of money.
In a 2014 interview with GQ,2 LeBron James revealed his goal to join the billion-dollar club.
Then, in 2022, less than 10 years since he announced this goal, the Los Angeles Lakers’ star reached the $1 billion milestone!
But how did he become a billionaire in less than 20 years of active play?
This is a fair question when you consider that Micheal Jordan became a billionaire about a decade after retiring from basketball.
To understand how LeBron James became a billionaire, we’ll need to break down his net worth.
How Much Money Does LeBron James Have? (Net Worth Breakdown)
Interestingly, the bulk of the Lakers’ star’s $1 billion fortune comes from his business dealings and brand deals outside basketball.
Let’s look at some of them below.
Blaze Pizza ($30 Million)
In 2012, LeBron James paid less than $1 million in exchange for a 10% stake in Blaze Pizza, a fast-casual pizza restaurant chain based in California.
Little did he know that his investment would increase by a staggering degree a decade later.
In 2017, his stake in the company had increased to $25 million, and by 2022, his investment was well worth $30 million.
Blaze Pizza has been fast expanding across territories in the US and Canada, with about 300 franchises and stores owned by the franchise.
Remarkably, LeBron James owns 19 locations of Blaze Pizza in Florida and Illinois.
Real Estate ($80 Million)
To diversify his investment portfolio, LeBron James decided to own choice properties in some of the most exquisite locations in the US.
One of his real estate properties is a mansion worth $10 million, built in Akron, Ohio, where he grew up.
In 2017, he acquired an eight-bedroom mansion in Brentwood, Los Angeles, worth $23 million.
As of August 2023, his latest real estate acquisition is a 1930s hilltop mansion covering 13,000 square feet in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles.3
The athlete paid $36.75 million for the luxury apartment; together, all his houses are estimated to be worth $80 million.
Fenway Sports Group ($90 Million)
Since the early 2010s, the Lakers’ power forward has been making moves in sports marketing, which have yielded many results today.
In 2011, LeBron James bought a minority stake in the English Premier League club Liverpool FC through his sports-marketing firm, LRMR.
In 2021, he exchanged his stake in the football club for part ownership of sports parent group company Fenway Sports Group, which owns Boston Red Sox (the Major League Baseball franchise), Liverpool FC (the English Premier League club), and the Pittsburgh Penguins (the National Hockey League franchise).
With that single move, the athlete counts a business front of sports holdings in football, baseball, and hockey to his portfolio.
It’s worth noting that his investment in FSG is worth a whopping $90 million.
SpringHill Company ($300 Million)
Before 2020, LeBron James’s companies—SpringHill Entertainment, the production company behind his 2007 documentary, More than a Game, as well as Robot Company, his marketing agency, and Uninterrupted, a media platform for athletes—all existed as different entities.
However, in 2020, he and his business partner Maverick Carter merged the three companies as “SpringHill Company.”
The move was beneficial, as investors Epic Games, Nike, RedBird Capital Partners, and Fenway Sports Groups all bought minority stakes in the company.
This was after about $100 million was raised from investors Elisabeth Murdoch and Paul Wachter.
The company is behind the Netflix docuseries about tennis star Naomi Osaka and Space Jam: A New Legacy, which starred LeBron James.
Today, SpringHill Company is worth $300 million and is currently working on an HBO Max remake of the 1990 comedy movie House Party and a biopic of LeBron James’s early life.
Other Investments ($500 Million)
Keeping track of all of LeBron James’s assets can be overwhelming, as he has so many interests.
But summing up his other business dealings after excluding his expensive lifestyle, he is believed to have about $500 million worth of assets.
These assets include his share of the proceeds of Dr. Dre’s Beat by Dre $3 billion sale to Apple in 2014, where he served as spokesman.
In 2020, he founded a sports nutrition company called Ladder with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger with $28 million in stocks.
His public shares in Beachbody, a publicly traded fitness company that Ladder acquired, also make up his $500 million fortune.
Conclusion
LeBron James is just as successful on the court as he is in his finances.
The NBA star has made history by being the first active NBA player with a net worth of about $1 billion.
We have no doubts that with time, he will secure more acquisitions, partnerships, and deals to increase his fast-rising net worth.
And we are here for all that and more.
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons
