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Oct 11, 2021 13 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Rising to the level of superstar athlete often comes with access to early-stage companies and relationships in the business world.

Here are ten of the most successful athlete investors based on deal frequency, best investment, and overall business acumen.

A thread
Kobe Bryant

Career earnings: $323 million

Investments: Dell, Epic Games, Alibaba

Alternative investments: Founded a media company, Granity Studios

Best investment: Body Armor. Turned $7 million into $200+ million
Shaq

Career earnings: $286 million

Investments: Krispy Kreme, Papa John’s, Auntie Anne’s, and Five Guys.

Alternative investments: Owns 40 gyms and 150 car washes, owns stake in Sacramento Kings

Best investment: Buying Google in 1999
A-Rod

Career earnings: $455 million

Investments: 62 companies, including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Oura, Snap, Acorns, and UFC Gym

Alternative investments: Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Lynx,

Best investment: Cold calling Warren Buffett to ask for mentorship
Andre Iguodala

Career earnings: $184,324,259

Investments: Jumia, Zoom, PagerDuty, Allbirds, Casper, Datadog

Alternative investments:

Best investment: Early stage investor in Zoom
Kevin Durant

Career earnings: $306,172,746 (ongoing)

Investments: Postmates, Whoop, Acorns, Robinhood, Overtime and others

Alternative investments: sports business show The Boardroom, stake in MLS’s Philadelphia Union

Best investment: Postmates $1 million → $15 million+
Joe Montana

Career earnings: $25.5 million

Investments: 32+ seed-stage companies, Pinterest, Gitlab

Alternative investments: General Partner at VC firm Liquid 2 Ventures

Best investment: Pinterest (invested in 2011 Series A)
Michael Jordan

Career earnings: $94 million

Investments: SportRadar, DraftKings, Jordan Brand

Alternative investments: Partial owner of NASCAR team, owner of Charlotte Hornets, $1.5 billion in endorsement deals

Best investment: Charlotte Hornets $175 million → $1.5 billion
Serena Williams

Career earnings: $94 million

Investments: Serena Ventures (50+ portfolio companies), billie, Daily Harvest, Impossible Foods

Alternative investments: S by Serena fashion line

Best investment: Invested early in Impossible Foods (current value ~$10 billion)
Lance Armstrong

Career earnings: ~$20 million/year during peak years

Investments: Trek, Next Ventures (his VC firm), Oura

Alternative investments: Coffee + bike shops in Texas, speaking fees

Best investment: $100K into Uber in '09 thanks to @sacca's Lower Case Capital
Lebron James

Career earnings: $346 million

Investments: Beats by Dre, stakes in Liverpool and Boston Red Sox

Alternative investments: Spring Hill, Uninterrupted, 19 Blaze Pizza franchises

Best investment: Made $700 million when Apple bought Beats by Dre
tl;dr here are ten of the best athlete/investors of all time

Kobe Bryant
Shaquille O'Neal
A-Rod
Andre Iguodala
Kevin Durant
Joe Montana
Michael Jordan
Serena Williams
Lance Armstrong
Lebron James

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