“The Last Dance,” a compelling 10-part documentary series on Michael Jordan, is set to debut on Sunday, April 19, airing on ESPN. Originally scheduled for a later release, the series was expedited due to the indefinite pause of the NBA season. This highly anticipated production will provide viewers with unprecedented access to never-before-seen footage from Jordan’s final season (1997-98) with the Chicago Bulls, offering a unique glimpse into the legendary basketball player’s career and legacy.
Michael Jordan didn’t become a billionaire until he left the court.
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
- Michael Jordan’s documentary series, “The Last Dance,” airs two months early on ESPN on Sunday, April 19.
- Jordan is widely considered one of the greatest pop culture figures and basketball players in history.
- He’s built a lucrative career, with an estimated net worth of $2.1 billion.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Jordan is one of the most celebrated figures in popular culture and almost universally regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, wrote Business Insider’s Danny Bakst. Since he retired in 2003, he has built the most successful and lucrative career Business Insider has ever seen from a former athlete.
While he made less than $100 million during his career as the NBA’s greatest player of all time, he’s been a billionaire since 2014. Currently, his net worth is estimated at $2.1 billion.
He’s living a lavish retirement, spending his days in sprawling houses, riding custom planes, and golfing on his own golf course.
But as much as Jordan is spending, his wealth also keeps growing. Here are nine mind-blowing facts that show just how rich he is.
1. With $1.85 billion in career earnings, Michael Jordan is the highest-paid athlete of all time.
Jordan still makes more money than LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, or any other active player.
2. Jordan bought the Charlotte Hornets in 2010 for $175 million, a move that made him a billionaire.
The Hornets have since skyrocketed in value, and Jordan officially became a billionaire in 2014 when the NBA franchise’s value rose.
He owns 97% of the equity in the club. Jordan did sell a minority stake in the club in 2019 that valued the team at $1.5 billion, but he reportedly has no interest in giving up control of the team.
3. As of 2015, Jordan was reportedly making $100 million a year from Nike royalties alone.
Jordan also has sponsorship deals with Hanes, Gatorade, and Upper Deck 16 years post-retirement, according to Forbes.
5. He’s so rich that an average American spending $1 is similar to Jordan spending $21,582.
Former basketball superstar Michael Jordan speaks during a press conference ahead of NBA basketball game between Charlotte Hornets and Milwaukee Bucks in Paris, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020.
AP Photo/Thibault Camus
The median net worth of an average US household is $97,300. Dividing Jordan’s net worth of $2.1 billion by $97,300 comes to about $21,582.
6. At that rate, buying the typical house in the US would cost Jordan just over $13.
The median home value in the US is $282,000. Dividing that by $21,582 comes to about $13.
7. In 2019, Jordan earned roughly $34,246 an hour, according to Business Insider calculations.
Business Insider found the difference between Jordan’s 2019 and 2020 net worths, $1.8 billion and $2.1 billion, respectively (as provided by the Forbes’ 2018 and 2019 richest people in the world lists, published every March) to determine his annual earnings. Jordan’s annual earnings came to roughly $300 million.
We then divided this estimated annual earnings figure by 8,760, the number of hours in a year, to calculate how much he earned an hour.
9. It took Jordan two days and 16 hours to earn what the average American man with a bachelor’s degree will earn in his lifetime — $2.2 million, according to the Social Security Administration.
That means Jordan earned the average college-educated American man’s lifetime earnings in less than a week.
The average American woman with a bachelor’s degree will earn $1.3 million in her lifetime, according to the SSA.
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