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Retired American basketball player and entrepreneur Magic Johnson currently has a net worth of $620 million. When Magic Johnson retired, he was under a $25 million contract for 25 years with the Los Angeles Lakers. With his ability and business ventures, he was made that contract a measly amount when he was able to grow his net worth to $620 million today. He was able to grow his money more than ten folds thanks to his investment company called Magic Johnson Enterprises which is now worth billions.
The former star point guard of Los Angeles Lakers has had a successful basketball career winning numerous NBA Championships and even taking home the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award during his rookie season. However he’s had more success when he retired and started his own business ventures. He was able to convert his $40 million to $620 million over the last two decades, take a look at how Magic Johnson was able to make it happen.
Magic Johnson’s Basketball Career
Earvin Johnson popularly known as Magic Johnson has become successful and famous thanks to his career as a basketball player who has powered the Los Angeles Lakers to at least five NBA championships. During his reign as a star point guard in the 1980s, he is among the best players who can do magic inside the court. Since his retirement nearly two decades ago, he has become a successful business mogul with a widely successful business empire.
Magic Johnson said that his time inside the court has helped him succeed in his business ventures. The two-time Hall of Famer said that playing basketball is all about details and paying attention to those details. Basketball has taught him to be perfectionist and how to be thorough and detailed organized which he is applying to his business as the CEO. Basketball also taught him to be competitive and through his business, he wanted to win for his clients, business partners and investors. He wanted to succeed for the community as well. With his attention to details, he has evaluated business opportunities better and looks at every aspect of business before investing. He credited his mentor, former Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss, who had helped him get his business started.
Establishing And Growing Magic Johnson Enterprises
Magic Johnson started a company because he wanted to prove that athletes could go from the ball court to board room. The basketball legend has created and founded the Magic Johnson Enterprises in 1987. He started the company with a vision to provide products and services which mainly focuses on a more ethnically diverse and underserved urban communities. Most of his investments are focused on the drive to bring development to the depressed areas. His primary mission and message just sums it all, he says that it is not whether you can succeed or not, it is about how many people you can help to become successful.
Through his investment company, Magic Johnson Enterprises, he has made a huge impact on the community. He has succeeded mainly because his main drive to succeed is to help others. Other businesses overlooked the underserved urban communities because they thought that they could not make money out of these communities. Johnson knew that these markets can bring positive outcome to his business and he wanted to make a huge impact to these communities by bringing some goods and services.
He was able to grow and succeed because he personally chooses people who would join his team. He likes to hire people who are motivated and has the drive to win. With this mindset, he was able to have his own dream team off the court as his business team is reliable and motivated to succeed. When Johnson started investing in the underserved communities, his business was able to create jobs within the community. Magic Johnson Enterprises was able to create neighborhood partnerships and has provided minority supplier opportunities. With these he was able to grow his business and investments, MJ Burger King Restaurants even had a 20% increase in sales because of this. Even their partnership with Starbucks became a massive success. They were able to provide 2,100 jobs to the community and has contributed $29.8 million estimated worth of salaries and benefits to the Urban Coffee Opportunities and Starbucks partners.
Today, Magic Johnson Enterprises owns numerous Magic Johnson Theaters, movie studios and some promotional marketing company. The enterprise now holds an estimated $1 billion worth of holdings across various industries. This is all thanks to Magic Johnson’s wisdom when it comes to investing. It was reported that Magic Johnson’s first investment is buying a PepsiCo bottling plant which is the largest minority-owned bottling plant in the country at the time. Through the years, Magic Johnson Enterprises has acquired numerous holdings, including 60% ownership of EquiTrust Life Insurance Companies which is currently valued at $14.5 billion. Through the years, the enterprise has continually invested in numerous lucrative businesses such as movie theaters and restaurants across the United States, the Los Angeles Lakers, Sodexo, numerous Burger King locations, and T.G.I. Friday's.
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Sources: Franchise Wire, Fortune, Celebrity Net Worth