In some sequences of ‘Winning Time’, the exciting series (HBO) that recreates the birth in the 1980s of the showtime era of the Los Angeles Lakers, the questionable choice of Magic Johnson’s shoe contract is shown.
The 6’9″ point guard, a Martian measure for a ball handler, turned down Nike’s offer – which was in full growth mode – of 100,000 shares in the company and a dollar for every pair of sneakers sold, and chose Converse. It is estimated that Magic Johnson allegedly lost out on $5.2 billion in his lifetime by choosing Converse because Nike’s stock price skyrocketed over the years.
What could not be foreseen at that moment is that the basketball legend was going to manufacture in the future a fortune that is now estimated at $1.2 billion thanks to magical maneuvers with his capital.
Nike’s lesson
That Nike experience was a first lesson in the piranha world of business. Magic Johnson got the hang of it. This summer, the former player and now dividend wizard is sailing on a yacht, the Whisper, which rents for $6 million a month, pocket change for its owner, Eric Schmidt, former chairman of Google.
The 95-metre vessel, valued at $200 million, has a 12-seat cinema, swimming pool, sauna, gym, jacuzzi and 42 video monitors. In one of the videos from the summer, the former player can be seen in a medium shot taking steps on a treadmill installed on deck. The shot slowly opens up and what appears from the air is a monstrous yacht of extraordinary dimensions.
It’s time for Magic to take a break and look at the figures of an economic empire forged with patience, far removed from the time when the ball flew from his hands to a teammate.
His sporting career was successful on the court with five NBA championship rings and transformative in society after revealing that he had AIDS, but it did not give for a ship the size of a neighborhood. After leaving his mark with his passes, smile and charisma, it was time to repeat in the hectic world of investments and wallets.
-Skydio: Drones
-Starco: Consumer product invention
-Johnson Energy Storage: Sustainable energy
-Shottracker: Real-time basketball statistics
Uncharted: Smart Infrastructure
-MJE Loop Capital Partners: Investment Management
Magic Johnson can laugh quietly on that rented yacht. According to Forbes, that personal fortune of $1.2 billion is a millennial cap that only three other basketball players have reached, Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Junior Bridgeman. Of that amount, only about $60 million corresponds to what he earned as a Lakers star and password for a game that caught Hollywood.
Spielberg’s agent, Tom Cruise…
To know how to fill his safe Magic took advice from the masters of the species. One of his instructors was Michael Ovitz, a powerful agent who has had in his portfolio Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Sylvester Stallone, Barbra Streisand and Kevin Costner, among other entertainment stars.
In that early business rally, the man with the eternal smile would buy a Pepsi bottling plant or a hundred Starbucks franchises that he was going to revolutionize in location, or some movie theaters that he would refloat in a troubled area of Los Angeles.
They were positive trials, a preseason to start bigger adventures, the first bricks of what now form Magic Johnson Enterprises, the name in which all the activities of the genuine passing artist are united.
The world of sports could not be oblivious to Magic’s economic antics. In 2012, a group led by Mark Walter -TWG, who also controls Chelsea, bought the management of the Los Angeles Dodgers for $2 billion, a historic baseball franchise that was on the verge of bankruptcy due to the decisions of its former owners. Magic contributed 2.3%, a small stone that is now worth ten times more.
Lakers, yes but no
Since that entry into baseball, Magic has seen how the Dodgers have become a globally relevant franchise with two World Series titles. The entrepreneur also has stakes in other teams in other sports: the Washington Commanders (American football), LAFC (soccer), Washington Spirit (women’s soccer) and Los Angeles Sparks (WNBA).In addition to stepping on Nike’s shoelaces, Magic did not tie himself to the Lakers forever either. After closing the box office as a player, he acquired a stake in the club, owned by the Buss family until its recent sale to TWG, that corporation in which Magic feels like family.
In 2010, the king of fantasy sold the 4.5% stake he owned. In 2017, the Lakers appointed him director of operations. In 2019, Magic resigned from the position. “I want to have fun again, I was happier,” said the legend who was not satisfied with an executive position like that.
A legendary career
He also turned down an offer to join the up-and-coming Golden State Warriors of Stephen Curry, a decision in which his love for the Lakers outweighed his desire for dividends. His heart was above the calculations
The jewel in the crown
But it is outside the world of sports where Magic cleans up his crown jewel, EquiTrust, a life insurance company of which he has owned 60% since 2015. EquiTrust’s assets are now worth $26 billion.
Such a money store allows Magic Johnson not to neglect the work of helping society. After the pandemic, he handed out $100 million in loans to minority and women-owned small business owners.
Nothing escapes Magic’s nose. As the mastermind behind JLC Infrastructure, in 2022, together with Rafael del Pino, chairman of Ferrovial, he laid the foundation stone for the construction of a new terminal at New York’s JFK airport. The work is scheduled for completion in 2030. Magic is all the rage. Clink clink Magic.
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