LeBron James, the basketball icon and partner in Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group, has become the first ever active NBA player to become a billionaire.
According to Forbes magazine, James' earnings over the past year of $121m (£97m) have seen him surpass the $1bn threshold to become only the second basketball player in history to reach the milestone, the other being the legendary Michael Jordan who achieved it in 2014, although more than a decade on from the last time he played competitively in the NBA.
James' wealth has been accrued both on and off the court, but it is the latter which has driven the rise in his net worth, with the Akron, Ohio native having been savvy from the start in structuring deals to give him equity in the brands and companies with which he is associated, as was the case with Liverpool owners FSG back in 2011.
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FSG's talent management company Fenway Sports Group Management had been seeking to represent James, who currently plies his trade with the Los Angeles Lakers, back in 2010, the year they took over at the Reds. At the time he was the hottest property in the NBA and there were plenty of suitors for the job. But FSG were willing to give the now-37-year-old something that others couldn't, a two percent ownership stake in a club he supported - Liverpool.
That two percent stake, worth around £4.7m in 2011, was worth £37m in March 2021, the time when he converted his Liverpool shareholding into one percent of FSG's overall empire, now worth close on $10bn. James' stake in FSG is now worth an estimated $90m (£71.6m) and sees him as a minority partner in the group that owns Liverpool, the Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Penguins, and that is expected to make a play to owning an NBA team in the not too distant future.
The ECHO understands that FSG are setting their sights on an expansion franchise that could crop up for the NBA in the next year or so, with both Seattle and Las Vegas in the running for the two spots. The ECHO also understands that it is Las Vegas where FSG are likely to focus their efforts, and James will be tasked with ownership of the team, something that he has long expressed a desire to do.
On-court activities have delivered hundreds of millions for James and he has a lifetime deal in place with Liverpool kit partners Nike. He will work with the US sportswear giant to produce a range of Liverpool merchandise as they look to open up the club in new demographics, something the NBA star can add significant leverage to through his global appeal. James can open doors with demographics that might not typically be interested in football but are invested in lifestyle brands in much the way that Paris Saint-Germain have been able to do with Nike's Air Jordan sister company.
The further growth in James' wealth also has Liverpool links. James and business partner, and fellow FSG partner, Maverick Carter, founded the SpringHill Company back in 2007 as a production company, but it was not until 2020 when they sought £100m of capital from investors that the firm really took off. SpringHill co-produced the Space Jam 2: A New Legacy movie that starred James and was the sequel to the 1996 hit Space Jam that starred Jordan.
James, whose stake in SpringHill sits at around $300m, sold a significant minority stake in his and Carter's firm to FSG's 11 percent partners, and new AC Milan owners, RedBird Capital Partners, the New York-based investment fund led by Gerry Cardinale. That sale was done at a valuation of $725m.
James has other lucrative stakes in US pizza chain Blaze Pizza, worth an estimated $30m, real estate of $80m and other investments that have paid dividends, such as the stake held in the Beats by Dre, the technology firm that was launched by rap star Dr Dre and legendary record executive and now FSG board member, Jimmy Iovine. Beats by Dre was sold in 2014 for $3bn to Apple, with James taking a cut.
FSG see James as an important part of their future, and it is likely that he increases his stake in the firm over time given the number of potential projects that the two have to work on. His ability to leverage the Nike partnership, SpringHill's future involvement in the digital storytelling around Liverpool and the Red Sox, and James' future role within an expected NBA acquisition means that the relationship is set to be a long-standing one that will only grow further. James brings a different dynamic to the FSG enterprise, one that is in tune with the changing landscape and consumer habits of the next generation.
James' love for Liverpool was showcased recently when he expressed his support for the club ahead of the FA Cup and Champions League finals on Twitter. The bigger the influence he has within FSG in the coming years, the more potential for touchpoints with Liverpool, and how he can aid things to enable growth off the field that can have a trickle down effect as to what happens on it.
