According to Boardroom, the Jordan brand has raised $19 billion for Nike over the past five years.
Michael Jordan gets 5%, which is pretty low, on every Jordan brand sale.
As of 2020, he has earned $1.3 billion from his contract with Nike, by far the most of any athlete in NBA history.
Nike designed Michael’s Air Jordan 1 and initially expected it to gross $3 million in 4 years.
Instead, Nike raised almost $130 million in the first 12 months. There was no turning back for the company as it quickly established itself as a tennis-basketball conglomerate.
Last year, Nike generated $3 million in sales for the Jordan brand in just 5 hours.
Also, read; Will Smith, Martin Lawrence Set to Reteam for Fourth ‘Bad Boys’ Movie
Michael Jordan isn’t the only NBA player to have a multi-billion dollar lifetime contract with Nike. LeBron James also signed one of the contracts that runs for as long as James wishes, which basically means he’s signed with Nike for life.
It’s unclear how much LeBron makes from his merchandise sales, but given that he’s now worth over $1 billion, it’s safe to say he has a similar deal to MJ.
The income he earns from the sale of each product has certainly gone a long way towards building The King’s billionaire empire.