Here’s How Michael Jordan Has Spent His Billion-Dollar Fortune

He’s one of the most iconic, famous, and popular basketball players of all time. And with almost a two-billion-dollar fortune to his name, he’s also one of the richest. With record-breaking figures pouring out of his Nike Jordans and crisp dollar bills raining down on his diamond-encrusted Rolexes, Michael Jordan doesn't seem to have spent much of his career worrying over his purse strings. Here’s a look at how an NBA superstar earned and spent his billions. 

The wealthiest of them all

Incredibly, Jordan is still earning more per annum than any other basketball player past or present. In fact, only a fraction of his fortune was accrued during his NBA career. Jordan raked in a total of $90.2 million while playing but has amassed ten times that from other ventures. That includes an astonishing $100 million per year from Nike. But how did he get there, and what are some of the most lavish things he's blown his staggering earnings on?

Brooklyn born and bred

It all started in Brooklyn, New York, in 1963, with Jordan’s hoop dreams taking root when he was just a teenager. He later became the star of his high school basketball side and after growing several inches made it into the McDonald’s All-American Team. But did young MJ have any idea just how many extra zeroes would be in his bank account back when he was recruited on a basketball scholarship by the University of North Carolina in 1981?

A star from the start

Based on just how many zeroes we're talking about, it's unlikely! And clearly, Jordan's choice to drop out of university a year before he was due to graduate hasn't impacted his wealth or success. Selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 NBA Draft, Jordan wasted little time in making an impression. Some of his first steps into the world of money and fame came when he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated in his first month as a professional. Jordan also went on to be selected for the All-Star team during his debut season, but that was only the start.

Record after record

It seemed as though Jordan just couldn’t stop breaking records from there on in. He scored the highest points total ever by a single player in a playoff game against the Boston Celtics. In addition, he was just the second player to score 3,000 points in a single season. And, even more impressively, he became the only player ever to notch up 100 blocked shots and 200 steals in just one season. His success, it seemed, was unstoppable...

Expensive taste

Record-breaking aside, in the early '90s Jordan played a pivotal part in the Bulls’ NBA Finals win over the Los Angeles Lakers. And though he may have famously cried whilst lifting the trophy, the rising star certainly wasn't shedding tears about his bank balance. As early as 1991, Jordan seemed to be spending big if his wrist candy was anything to go by. Jordan's watch collection has only grown since, but one of his 90s watches — a classic Day-Date Rolex — would have likely set him back somewhere in the region of $20,000.

Staggering losses

But although Jordan was earning millions at the time, he was also spending plenty of money as well. In 1993 he confessed that he’d lost nearly $60,000 gambling earlier in the year. A wince-worthy sum to wave goodbye to by most people's standards, but that was only one loss. A businessman named Richard Esquinas alleged that he’d been paid more than $1 million by Jordan after winning a golfing bet against him.

Tragedy struck

His hefty debts were no doubt overshadowed by the shocking murder of his father. On July 23, 1993, Jordan's "rock" was shot while he slept in a Lexus that his son had gifted him. After the tragic shooting, Jordan decided to retire from the NBA. And although Jordan had called it quits on the court, his fortune continued to mount. And just months later, in fact, he signed a contract with a minor league baseball team. His second sporting career lasted just a year, however, and in March 1995 he returned to the NBA.

The Washington Wizards

And Jordan proved to be just as dominant during his second stint in the NBA. By 1998 he’d won his sixth NBA title with the Bulls, as well as a record-breaking sixth Finals MVP. Although he retired again in 1999, Jordan was back in the NBA a year later. However, this time it was as the president and co-owner of the Washington Wizards. A move that would prove to be a particularly savvy financial choice.

Earnings of $0

As Jordan fans will know, the lure of the court proved impossible to resist once again. So, in 2001 he moved from behind the scenes back to center stage — this time as a Washington Wizards player. So how much did he make? Well, he actually pocketed a grand total of $0. Of the $1 million agreed salary with the Wizards, Jordan reportedly didn't take home a single cent.

A prosperous move

According to the Washington Post, Jordan planned to donate his entire first year's salary to victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. A charitable act that mustn't have dented his earnings given that he finally hung up his sneakers for good just two years later. Unable to resist, Jordan again returned to the NBA in 2006 as a minority shareholder of the then-Charlotte Bobcats. And this shrewd business investment significantly boosted his bank balance. When he bought the Bobcats outright in 2010, the NBA team was worth $275 million. Over a decade in, the franchise now known as the Charlotte Hornets has skyrocketed in value.

Bugs Bunny bringing the big bucks

Of course, baseball wasn’t Jordan’s only extra-curricular activity. The NBA icon also owns his eponymous motorsports company and has enjoyed a long and lucrative affiliation with Nike. He even starred in his very own movie, the 1996 live-action Space Jam. Luckily, Jordan's foray into acting turned out to be yet another sharp move. The family-friendly film was a box office hit and grossed over $250 million worldwide. In fact, it became the highest-grossing basketball film of all time. What's more, the hybrid movie later turned into a franchise.

First-ever NBA billionaire

Jordan’s enduring basketball career, along with his many lucrative sidelines, resulted in him becoming the first-ever NBA billionaire in 2014. A year later he was named by Forbes as the second-richest African American in the world. The magazine put his wealth at around $1.1 billion at the time. But what does Jordan actually spend his astonishing fortune on?

Flying high

Well as you’d expect, the man nicknamed Air Jordan likes to fly in style. He travels with his very own security team each time he goes overseas. And naturally, the NBA legend also has his own jet. The luxurious Gulfstream G550 is emblazoned with Jordan's signature Jumpman logo and was rumored to set him back a cool $61 million. Previously a blue and white pattern, the NBA star forked out even more cash to transform the paintwork with an eye-catching camo design. Private jets aren't his only fancy means of transport, though.

Sailing in style

And Jordan is just as extravagant when out on the open waters as he is when up in the air. And he owns multiple vessels, so he has plenty of choices when heading seawards. The luxury super yacht "Joy" is decked out with five plush teak wood decks and even has a full-size basketball court up top.

Golfing galore

Jordan is also an avid golf player, and his luxurious tastes extend to the course, too. In fact, he spends so much time on the green that he spent upwards of an estimated $15,000 building his very own course. His inspiration? After apparently becoming exasperated by the sluggish pace of play at his usual course, he simply needed a custom-built one instead! And when it comes to moving around on the golf course, he can call upon his very own custom-made cart.

Home sweet home

And, as may be expected, Jordan also isn’t afraid to splash out when it comes to his living arrangements. Indeed, he spent nearly $13 million constructing his ideal home in Florida. In addition, he owns a house worth $2.8 million in Charlotte. He also had a mansion, complete with a basketball court and swimming pool, in Chicago that was put on the market in 2015 for a whopping $29 million.

Prestigious education

But Jordan hasn’t just spent his money on himself. He sent both of his sons to a prestigious private Catholic high school in Illinois. In 2006, meanwhile, he donated $5 million to another school in Chicago. He’s also given money to various charities and organizations, including the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Habitat for Humanity.

Multi-million-dollar settlement

And Jordan has managed to attain billionaire status despite reportedly having to pay one of the biggest divorce settlements of all time. After filing for divorce in 2002 due to "irreconcilable differences," Jordan and his then-wife Juanita Vanoy's relationship came to an end in 2006. And along with the end of a 17-year marriage, the star allegedly found himself an eye-watering $168 million poorer.

Dodged a bullet

Still, Jordan did manage to avoid losing another multi-million dollar sum that same year when a judge in Illinois ruled in his favor in a breach of contract claim. Rumored ex-lover Karla Knafel had claimed that the star had agreed to pay $5 million in order to keep their relationship secret. However, her case was later thrown out of court.

Expensive wedding bells

Luckily Jordan’s costly divorce settlement didn’t seem to put him off of love completely, and in 2013, he walked down the aisle for a second time to marry model Yvette Prieto. Clearly Jordan wasn't put off after his first failed marriage, as the couple spent a rumored $10 million on the celebrations. She gave birth to their twin daughters Ysabel and Victoria just a few months later. So who is Yvette Prieto?

Yvette Prieto

Since the pair got together in 2008, people have been trying to dig a little deeper into what makes the Cuban-American model tick. Keeping her private life out of the spotlight, Prieto's most notable work has been with designer Alexander Wang as well as featuring in the documentary Cuba: An Island Apart. It’s fair to say that Michael Jordan has done all right for himself in the amassing-a-fortune stakes, and there was one deal in particular that helped pave the way for his extraordinary wealth.

Light on his feet

This brings us to “Air Jordan,” perhaps the best indicator of Jordan’s superstar status. In 1984 he signed the deal that would eventually make him a billionaire. Nope, it wasn’t a Chicago Bulls contract, but rather an endorsement deal with Nike. And together they cooked up the sneaker that would become one of the world’s most enduring footwear products.

Shoe shopping

Nike was actually a fairly new company at the time, and Jordan was reportedly reluctant to sign with it. The NBA’s official shoe was made by Converse, while Jordan preferred Adidas. Yet Converse refused to prioritize Jordan over other stars, like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and Adidas said it wasn’t in the position to make a custom Jordan shoe.

Deal or no deal?

So Jordan agreed to a meeting with Nike and was sold by the new soles of the shoes. It was dubbed the “air sole.” And Jordan signed a deal worth $500,000 per year, which was triple the amount earned by any other player when it came to deals. His father reportedly told him, straight up, that he would have been a fool to turn it down.

Astronomical success

The young company expected to sell $3 million worth of Air Jordans by the end of its fourth year on the market. But by the end of year one, Nike had sold a staggering $126 million. The deal would see Jordan pocket an astonishing $1.3 billion overall. He even made $130 million from the Nike endorsement in 2019, 16 years after he retired from the sport. Of course, the biggest influence on his legacy was his teammates' recollection of Jordan as a player.

Fear factor

Not everyone was looking to sugarcoat his legacy. A few of his teammates, Jud Buechler and Will Perdue, were refreshingly candid with how Jordan’s drill sergeant-meets-schoolyard bully approach made them feel. Buechler confessed, “People were afraid of him. We were his teammates, and we were afraid of him. There was just fear. The fear factor of M.J. was just so, so thick.”

Divisive words

Perdue added, “Let’s not get it wrong... He was a jerk, he crossed the line numerous times.” But Perdue admitted that his view had altered as he has gotten older and more reflective. He said, “But as time goes on and you think back on what he was actually trying to accomplish, yeah, he was a hell of a teammate.”

Scared of the spotlight

This complicated legacy meant that, when the celebrated Bulls documentary The Last Dance was initially being put together, Jordan reportedly refused to participate. As director Jason Hehir told The Athletic, the basketball icon was worried about how he would be seen in the documentary. He didn’t think, for example, that his intense treatment of teammate Scott Burrell would be looked upon favorably.

Tough love

Hehir revealed that Jordan told him, “When you see footage of it, you’re going to think that I’m a horrible guy. But you have to realize that the reason why I was treating him like that is because I needed him to be tough in the playoffs.” Jordan then added, “I needed to know that I could count on him.”

Taking the plunge

Jordan was scared that when the world saw the footage of him chastising Burrell during practice sessions, they’d just see a bully. He didn’t believe viewers would understand his intention, which was simply to do all that was necessary to win basketball games. The icon did participate in the documentary in the end, of course, where he revealed his opinion of Burrell.

Reverse psychology

“Scottie Burrell was a talented guy,” clarified Jordan. “What Scottie was lacking was commitment, determination, seriousness. So, he became my guy to keep pushing, keep pushing. I tried to get him to fight me a couple times, just to get him [to think], ‘Man, I’m tired of you picking on me.’ That type of mentality.” Burrell never took that bait, though.

No harm done?

It all begs a simple question, though. How did a “nice guy” like Burrell cope with being in the trenches alongside the mega-demanding Jordan? Did he believe he was being bullied or mistreated in any way? According to Burrell himself in a 2020 interview on The Michael Kay Show, he felt like Jordan’s tactics were just what he needed to excel.

Teaching by example

“I appreciated everything [Jordan] did,” revealed Burrell. “He made me a better player, a better person. If you’re an athlete and you resent someone who is challenging you to be a better player, when he’s the best player to ever play, you’re doing the wrong thing. You don’t know what potential you can reach until someone lets you know and pushes you to be even better.”

Locker room talk

To Burrell, what Jordan did to him was little more than trash talk that came with the territory. He told ESPN radio, “If you grew up playing in a park, you don’t think people talk junk to you and say things? I said things to people. Just because it was on film, I’m supposed to be embarrassed because [Jordan] said some things to me because of my ego? No.”

Bad luck charm

Yet this wasn’t the first time Jordan had been accused of using fear to accomplish his goals. In the 2014 book Facing Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls trainer Tim Grover explained that Jordan actually wanted people to fear him. He said, “I called him a black cat because of the effect he had when he crossed your path. It was not going to be a good thing for you.”

Commanding respect

Grover continued, “He would go into the opponents’ locker room before games to talk to someone, and he would just change the dynamic in there. It is a fear and respect thing. He never cared about being liked; he did not need to be friends with everyone all over the league. He did want to be feared and respected, though. That was important.”

From the man himself

This brings us neatly to the closing moments of episode seven of The Last Dance, which featured Jordan confessing about his basketball philosophy. It was an eye-opening and emotional insight into the mind of a man driven beyond the limits of most others to excel. As Jordan put it, “Winning has a price. And leadership has a price.”

Paving a tough road

Jordan pushed his teammates harder than they had ever been pushed. He revealed, “So I pulled people along when they didn’t want to be pulled. I challenged people when they don’t want to be challenged. And I earned that right because my teammates came after me. They didn’t endure all the things that I endured.”

By any means necessary

The star then freely admitted that he wouldn’t accept anything other than excellence from his teammates. He said, “Once you join the team, you live at a certain standard that I play the game, and I wasn’t gonna take anything less. Now, if that means I have to go out there and get in your [face] a little bit, then I did that.”

No hypocrisy here

So Jordan did confess to being hard on his teammates to get the best out of them. But he rejected the idea that he ever tried to push them harder than he pushed himself. He revealed, “You ask all my teammates, the one thing about Michael Jordan was, he never asked me to do something that he didn’t do.”

Sore losers

Next came Jordan addressing claims that he may have gone too far with his treatment of his teammates. He said, “When people see this, they’re gonna say, ‘Well, he wasn’t really a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant.’ Well, that’s you, because you never won anything.” Therein lies the core of Jordan’s philosophy.

All or nothing

Thus the idea of winning was all-consuming for Jordan. And he believed that, when someone got a taste of winning, it changed their mentality completely. He would therefore do whatever it took to ensure he and his team won championships. He told The Last Dance, “I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win and be a part of that as well.”

An emotional moment

As Jordan’s confession came spilling out of him, he became more and more emotional. His voice cracking, he said, “I don’t have to do this. I’m only doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality.” It all built to a crescendo with: “If you don’t want to play that, don’t play that way.” He then broke into tears and called for the cameras to be turned off.

Startling revelations

Almost a year after The Last Dance aired, director Jason Hehir sat down with The Chicago Tribune to talk about its incredible success. And a huge talking point was Jordan’s tearful moment of introspection. Hehir revealed that the scene happened only an hour into their first interview, and the star needed a full six minutes to compose himself.

Heavy words

Aside from capturing a watercooler moment for the documentary, Hehir felt it gave tremendous insight into Jordan’s personality. He said, “It was illuminating to me that of all the things we discussed, that’s what gets him the most raw. That was him saying, ‘This is who I am.’ And it was a staunch defense of, ‘Like it or not, I brought all these people along with me.’”

A self-aware legend

And Hehir believes that Jordan, “is well aware that he has the reputation as the most competitive athlete to ever lace it up.” But the director thinks it has left him conflicted. On the one hand, he knows Jordan, “is immensely proud of that and cognizant that that has brought him all the accolades and all the championships and all the achievements in his life.”

A complex man

But Hehir believes that Jordan also wanted to be seen in a more nuanced way. The director told The Chicago Tribune, “there is also a more human, kinder side to him that he wishes would be examined more deeply as well.” So perhaps Jordan is insecure about people believing he is a one-dimensional, win-at-all-costs dictator. But it’s certainly unlikely he could have played the game any other way... and won.