The 25 Richest Athletes In The World 2020

Who are the richest athletes in the world? Which athletes are billionaires? Tiger Woods, Floyd Mayweather, Michael Jordan … I'm sure you can guess some of the biggest names, but who has the highest net worth as of April 2020?

Here's a quick spoiler / surprise: The person who has historically been the world's richest athlete is a retired Romanian tennis player you have never heard of and would not recognize if you bump into him on the street. That Romanian tennis player, Ion Tiriac, was the first billionaire athlete in history. He's still a billionaire, but he's no longer wealthy enough to be number 1 on this list.

So who grabbed the top slot? Let's take a look at the 25 richest athletes on the planet:

# 25: Grant Hill net worth: $ 250 million

Hill began his NBA career in 1994 with the Detroit Pistons. He then played for teams like the Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers, retiring after the 2013 season. During his long NBA career, Grant earned $ 140 million in salary alone and another approximately $ 120 million in endorsements. This includes a seven-year, $ 80 million contract with Fila, which was the largest shoe contract in history up to that point. He continued his partnership with Fila with a lifetime deal in 2018 that will pay him more than $ 10 million per year.

# 24: Gary Player Net Worth: $ 250 million

One of the most respected PGA golfers, Player is the third most winning golfer in PGA history. Your net worth is largely tied to your business interests, which are represented exclusively by Black Knight International. His commercial businesses include his work as a golf course architect, as well as licenses, events, publications, wines, clothing and souvenirs. Black Knight International also handles all of your endorsements and marketing activities. In addition, over the course of his career, he has promised $ 100 million to the underprivileged in his home country, South Africa.

# 23: Lewis Hamilton net worth: $ 285 million

Between June 2016 and June 2017, Hamilton earned around $ 50 million in endorsements and cash prizes. Between June 2017 and June 2018, he earned $ 51 million. In 2018, he signed a two-year contract extension to continue driving for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, with an expected annual base salary of more than $ 30 million. It has personal endorsement agreements with brands like Mercedes-Benz, Monster Energy, Puma, IWC, Sony, Bombardier, Bell Helmets, and MV Agusta Motorcycles. It also has an ongoing association with fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger, launching several capsule collections under the brand.

# 22: George Foreman's net worth: $ 300 million

Very little of Foreman's net worth actually comes from boxing. After turning pro in 1969 and winning 76 of 81 fights, in the 1980s his net worth was still relatively small at $ 5 million. Most of his net worth comes from his various trading companies, including the grill that bears his name. Other products he has promoted include Meineke mufflers and George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling grilling machine, and he is also a member of the Panther Racing Indy Car team.

# 21: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Net worth: $ 300 million

At the peak of his career, Dale earned $ 25-30 million per year. Approximately $ 22 million of that amount was earned through endorsements. His main sponsor throughout his career was Bud Light. It also had sponsorship deals with Kraft, Drakkar, Chevy, Gillette, EA Sports, Pennzoil, and Wrangler. When Dale retired in 2017, he had earned $ 410 million during his career through endorsements and earnings. He also has several non-racing businesses, including media production company Hammerhead Entertainment, and is a partial owner of Paducah International Raceway.

# 20: Rock Dwayne Johnson's net worth: $ 320 million

Johnson made his WWF debut in 1996 as Rocky Maivia, a heroic character, before becoming the villain The Rock in 1997. He began his acting career in 2001 and began focusing on him full time in 2004. Most of of his net worth comes from his acting activities, between June 2017 and June 2018, he earned $ 125 million, making him the highest paid actor on the planet. Thanks to its massive following on social media, The Rock is contractually demanding up to $ 4 million to promote its own movies, in addition to salary points and backend. It is backed by brands such as Apple, Ford and Under Armor.

# 19: Jack Nicklaus net worth: $ 320 million

Considered one of the best golf players of all, Nicklaus has won the PGA Tour 73 times, the Champions Tour 10 times and the Masters Tournament six times in his 25-year career. Nicklaus has remained a driving force of the course. Mainly, he has been actively involved in golf course design, charity work and book writing. Jack Nicklaus is the founder and host of "The Memorial Tournament", and runs one of the world's leading golf course design companies.

# 18: Alex Rodríguez's net worth: $ 350 million

During his baseball career, Rodríguez played for the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers, but is best known for his time with the New York Yankees, where he played from 2004 until his retirement in 2017. During his career, he earned $ 441 million. On just the baseball salary, he signed several contracts that were the largest in the history of the sport at the time. At his peak, he earned $ 33 million a year in salary. Outside of sports, Rodríguez is a real estate investor through his A-Rod Corp.

# 17: Vinnie Johnson's Net Worth: $ 400 million

Johnson, a retired professional basketball player, spent his career playing for the Seattle SuperSonics, Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs, before retiring in 1992. During his career, he spent more than a decade playing with the Pistons, winning two championships. with them. After retiring from the NBA, he founded Piston Automotive, which is now one of the largest auto parts suppliers in the United States. The company employs more than 200 people and generates more than $ 2 billion per year in revenue.

# 16: Shaquille O & # 39; Neal's net worth: $ 400 million

During his professional basketball career, O & # 39; Neal played with the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics. His notable contracts include a seven-year, $ 121 million contract he signed with the Lakers and his five-year, $ 100 million contract with the Miami Heat. In 2019, he joined the Board of Directors of the pizza company Papa Johns, which reportedly earned him $ 8.25 million in salary and shares over three years. He also invested $ 840,000 buying 30% of a 9 unit Papa Johns franchise in Atlanta.

As of 2020, Shaq's net worth is $ 400 million.

# 15: Phil Mickelson's net worth: $ 400 million

During the course of his professional golf career, Mickelson has won four Major Championships, earning more than $ 87 million in tournament prizes. In a given year, he earned around $ 60 million, of which $ 10 million came from tournament salary and earnings and a staggering $ 50 million in endorsements. His biggest supports are with KPMG, ExxonMobil, Titleist, Ford, Enbrel, Callaway, Amgen, Grayhawk, Rolex and Intrepid Financial Partners. He has earned over $ 700 million on the golf course thanks to endorsements during his career, which means he has earned around $ 900 million in total during his career as of 2020.

# 14: Lionel Messi net worth: $ 400 million

The Argentine-born professional footballer earned his net worth as a forward and winger for FC Barcelona and the Argentina National Team. He is one of the highest-paid footballers in the world. Under his previous contract, his annual base salary was $ 44.68 million. In 2017 he signed a new contract with Barcelona that pays a base salary of $ 80 million. Plus, earn $ 40 million each year for endorsements. He has a lifetime sponsorship contract with Adidas, and has also done commercials for brands like Herbalife.

# 13: Greg Norman's net worth: $ 400 million

Australian golfer Norman was the first golfer to spend $ 10 million in professional earnings. He was the leader of the tour money in 1986, 1990 and 1995. Outside of golf, he has numerous commercial interests. He established the Greg Norman Gold Course Design company in 1987 and began investing in the wine industry with the launch of Greg Norman Estates in 1996. All of his business interests are managed under the Great White Shark Enterprises company. In addition, he founded the Greg Norman Company in 1993, and sold it for a profit of $ 40 million five years later.

# 12: Roger Federer's net worth: $ 450 million

Federer is a widely recognized tennis player, having won Wimbledon 8 times, the Australian Open 6 times, the French Open once and the US Open. USA 5 times. Federer's total ATP race earnings were $ 124 million as of July 2019. He is one of the highest-paid athletes in the world on and off the court. Between June 2017 and June 2018, Federer earned $ 77.2 million. Between June 2018 and June 2019, he earned $ 94 million. Of that amount, approximately $ 86 million comes from sponsorships with companies like Credit Suisse, Rolex, and Mercedes Benz.

# 11: David Beckham's net worth: $ 450 million

Beckham's net worth is a net worth combined with his wife, singer / designer Victoria Beckham. Throughout his professional soccer career, he played for Manchester United, Real Madrid, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Paris Saint-Germain. During his past six seasons in MLS with the Los Angeles Galaxy, David Beckham earned an estimated $ 255 million, including salaries, shared income, endorsements, appearances, and licenses. He has represented brands such as Pepsi, Calvin Klein, Adidas, Vodafone and Gillette. In addition, with his wife, he owns an extensive portfolio of real estate with properties around the world.

# 10: Cristiano Ronaldo's net worth: $ 460 million

Ronaldo, born in Portugal, is one of the best soccer players in the world. After spending 9 years with Real Madrid, in 2018 Cristiano Ronaldo signed a four-year contract with Juventus that pays a base salary of $ 64 million. Off the field, earn an additional $ 40 million in sponsorships. Between June 2017 and June 2018, Cristiano earned $ 108 million, $ 61 million through wages, and $ 47 million from endorsements. Additionally, in November 2016, he signed a $ 1 billion "life" agreement with Nike, with a $ 100 million signing bonus.

# 9: Eddie Jordan's net worth: $ 475 million

A former professional racing driver, the majority of Jordan's net worth comes from his position as founder and owner of the Jordan Grand Prix racing team, which competed between 1991 and 2005. He also founded the Eddie Jordan Racing team, which he sold to the Midland Group in 2005 for between 40 and 75 million euros. His other business interests include investments in the vodka brand Vodka V10, the energy drink brand EJ-10 and Bulgarian real estate company Madara Capital. He joined the "Top Gear" show as a presenter in 2016, and is also an analyst for Channel 4's "C4F1" show.

During his first 10 NBA seasons, LeBron James earned just over $ 126 million in salary alone. During that same time period, he earned an estimated $ 326 million endorsements. Every year, James earns around $ 40 million in NBA salaries and approximately $ 55 million in endorsements. That brings your total annual income to approximately $ 100 million. It has sponsorship agreements with major companies like McDonalds, Microsoft, State Farm, Beats by Dre, and Samsung. In addition, he signed the first lifetime support agreement Nike offered in December 2015, worth more than $ 1 billion.

# 7: Floyd Mayweather's net worth: $ 505 million

As of 2020, Mayweather's total professional earnings exceed $ 1.1 billion. This achievement is particularly notable because he has managed to exceed $ 1 billion in earnings with relatively few sponsorship deals, getting most of his money in just two fights. He made $ 250 million from his 2015 fight against Manny Pacquiao, and $ 300 million from his 2017 fight against Conor McGregor. Outside the ring, he generally earns a relatively meager amount of money from endorsements, compared to his typical earnings of $ 150- $ 300 million a year when he's struggling. Floyd is the fifth highest-paid athlete of all time and one of six athletes whose professional earnings have exceeded $ 1 billion.

As of 2020, Floyd Mayweather's net worth is $ 505 million.

# 6: Roger Staubach's net worth: $ 600 million

A retired American football quarterback, Staubach spent his entire ten-year professional NFL career playing for the Dallas Cowboys. He led the team to victories in Super Bowl VI and Super Bowl XII. After retiring from gambling, he worked as a sports commentator and founded the commercial real estate business Staubach Company, which worked with major businesses such as AT&T, McDonalds and K-Mart Corporation. He now serves as CEO of the investment management and professional services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, which had purchased the Staubach company in 2008.

# 5: Michael Schumacher's net worth: $ 600 million

Former runner Schumacher's career spanned from 1991 to 2006. He won the Formula One World Drivers Championship seven times, and is widely regarded as one of the most successful Formula One drivers of all time. He is also one of the highest-paid athletes of all time. At the peak of his career, Shell paid him $ 10 million per year to wear a hat with the company logo in almost all public appearances. At its peak it earned $ 80-100 million per year. Even in the years when he wasn't competing, he made $ 50 million just for the backup. He is one of six athletes in history to have earned more than $ 1 billion from his sport alone (basically does not include outside investments such as ownership stakes in NBA teams). Michael earned $ 1 billion in wages and endorsements during his illustrious career.

# 4: Magic Johnson's net worth: $ 600 million

Former professional basketball player Johnson played for the Los Angeles Lakers for 13 seasons. During his playing career, Magic earned just over $ 18 million in salary and several million more in endorsements. Today he oversees a trading empire under Magic Johnson Enterprises that is valued at more than $ 1 billion. Most of his fortune comes from his businesses, which include a movie studio, a movie theater chain, and a promotional marketing company. He has also invested in sports teams, buying the Los Angeles Dodgers with a group of partners in 2012 for $ 2 billion.

# 3: Tiger Woods net worth: $ 800 million

Woods is the highest-earning golf player of all time, with career earnings in excess of $ 1.65 billion since turning pro in 1996. His main sources of income are tournament earnings and approval. of products. His $ 118 million earnings on the golf course represent 7.6% of his total career earnings, but his endorsements represent 92.4% of his earnings. He has endorsed brands like Nike, Gatorade, American Express, Rolex, Gillette, Tag Heuer, and Buick. His deal with Gatorade alone was worth $ 100 million over 5 years, and between 1997 and 2005 he earned $ 140 million from Nike endorsements.

As of this writing, Tiger Woods' net worth is $ 800 million. And that AFTER he paid his ex-wife Elin a divorce settlement of more than $ 100 million.

# 2: Ion Tiriac's net worth: $ 1.2 billion

Former Romanian professional tennis player Ion Tiriac had a highly respectable career in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After winning 22 career titles as a doubles player and ranking 19th in doubles tennis, he retired and He became a coach for players like Ilie Năstase and, most importantly, Boris Becker. Ion orchestrated the rise of Boris Becker to become the number 1 player in the world. Working with Boris in the early 1990s, Germany exposed Ion to western business practices that would soon sweep the former USSR.

In 1990, Ion established the Tiriac Bank. It was the first private bank in Romania. He then launched retail businesses, car dealerships, an airline, and an insurance company. It also has a large portfolio of residential and commercial real estate. Today his empire includes Tiriac Holdings, TiriacAIR, HVB Tiriac Bank, Allianz-Tiriac Asigurari Romania, TiriacAuto, Tiriac Leasing, and Tir Travel.

He first became a billionaire officially in 2007. Ion Tiriac's personal fortune finally peaked at more than $ 2 billion. That was more than enough to make him the world's richest athlete in the past decade. Unfortunately in recent years, and in recent months in particular, Ion's fortune has been affected by a series of winds against companies, reducing his net worth to $ 1.2 billion at the time of this writing. At the same time, Michael Jordan's fortune has skyrocketed …

# 1: Michael Jordan's net worth: $ 2.2 billion

Michael Jordan was the first athlete to earn more than $ 30 million per year in salary. When he made $ 33.14 million from the Chicago Bulls for the 1997-1998 season, that was the same as earning $ 53.4 million in today's dollars. He "alone" earned a total of $ 93 million in NBA salary. As you know, it has also earned a huge sum of money through sponsorship deals with companies like Hanes, Gatorade, McDonald & # 39; s, Upper Deck, MCI and many more. But it was his association with Nike Air Jordan that earned Michael a truly amazing amount of money, even almost two decades after he retired from the sport professionally. Every year to this day he earns $ 80- $ 100 million in royalties from Nike shoes. In total, Michael has earned at least $ 1.4 billion in pretax endorsements to date.

But even after earning $ 1.5 billion in wages and endorsements, Michael had not finished building his empire. In 2006, he purchased a minority stake in what was then known as the Charlotte Bobcats. The team changed its name to the Charlotte Hornets in 2014, the same year that Michael paid $ 175 million for a majority stake in the team. Their participation was just under 90%. Right now, the Hornets overall were worth at least $ 600 million. After the team's debt was phased out and his other assets were included, Michael officially achieved billionaire status for the first time,

In 2019, it sold a minority share of its stake to a group of hedge fund managers with an overall team valuation of $ 1.5 billion. Immediately after the closing of this transaction, Michael's net worth was $ 1.9 billion.

As of April 2020, Michael Jordan's net worth is $ 2.2 billion.

*** Kobe Bryant ***

As we all know, Kobe Bryant tragically died on January 26, 2020 in a helicopter crash at the age of 41. At the time of his death, Kobe Bryant's net worth was $ 600 million. If he were still alive today, Kobe would be one of the five richest athletes on the planet.

During his career, Kobe earned $ 328 million in salary alone and $ 350 million in endorsements totaling $ 680 million. He was also one of the first investors in a sports drink company called Bodyarmor. He bought a 10% stake in the company in 2014 for $ 6 million. In 2018, Coca Cola bought a stake in Bodyarmor that valued the company as a whole at $ 2 billion. That meant Kobe's $ 6 million investment was worth $ 200 million, on paper, before taxes.

Who was the richest athlete in history?

So does Michael Jordan's $ 2.2 billion fortune make him the richest athlete in human history? Technically not. Not even remotely. That award belongs to a Roman charioteer named Cayo Appuleio Diocles, who lived in 104 AD. Diocles ran for almost a quarter of a century, finally retiring at age 42. He won 1,462 of the 4,257 races in which he competed. Diocles' salary was five times higher than that of the wealthiest provincial governors of the same time. His earnings were also sufficient to supply grain to the entire city of Rome for a full year or to pay each soldier of the Roman army at the strongest point of his imperial reach for more than two months.

In the course of his career, Diocles allegedly gained 35,863,120 sesterces. Adjusted for inflation, your total earnings would be equal $ 15 billion.

So Michael still has something to shoot for! You just need to earn another $ 12.8 billion. If anyone can "do it" … it's Michael Jordan.

Summary

As of April 2020, Michael Jordan is the richest athlete in the world with a net worth of $ 2.2 billion. He is followed by retired Romanian tennis player-turned-financier Ion Tiriac, who is worth $ 1 billion. These are the 10 richest athletes in the world as of 2020:

• # 1 Michael Jordan $ 2.2 billion
• # 2 Ion Tiriac $ 1 billion
• # 3 Tiger Woods $ 800 million
• # 4 Magic Johnson $ 600 million
• # 5 Michael Schumacher $ 600 million
• # 6 Roger Staubach $ 600 million
• # 7 Floyd Mayweather $ 505 million
• # 8 LeBron James $ 480 million
• # 9 Eddie Jordan $ 475 million
• # 10 Cristiano Ronaldo $ 460 million