There’s a new member in the most elite club.
via: Forbes
NBA Hall of Famer Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson is a billionaire, according to new reporting by Forbes (Magic Johnson Is Now A Billionaire by Matt Craig), becoming only the fourth professional athlete to reach the benchmark following a lucrative post-basketball career as an investor in professional sports teams, movie theaters, Starbucks cafes and a health insurance provider.
Johnson, who retired from the NBA in 1991 after being diagnosed with HIV, owns a minority stake in the NFL’s Washington Commanders, following billionaire Josh Harris’ $6.05 billion purchase of the team in May.
The 64-year-old Johnson also owns stakes in a trio of Los Angeles professional sports franchises, including the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers and the MLS’ LAFC.
Forbes now estimates his net worth to be $1.2 billion—the result of his stakes in those teams, and major investments in a slate of industries, including a 60% stake in Iowa-based life insurance company EquiTrust he purchased in 2015.
EquiTrust makes up the largest portion of Johnson’s personal net worth—since the purchase, the Iowa-based company’s assets have skyrocketed from $16 billion to $26 billion, with annual revenues of roughly $2.6 billion.
Over the past three decades, Johnson has launched a chain of movie theaters in a partnership with Loews, setting up theaters in predominantly Black neighborhoods in major cities across the country, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston and New York City — he also began a 50/50 venture with Starbucks to open cafes in Black neighborhoods.
