The past year saw Michael Jordan’s brand get another boost with the release of “The Last Dance,” but it appears the Bulls legend didn’t do so well financially. While his net worth remains an eye-popping $1.6 billion, according to Forbes, that’s a $500 million drop since the publication last reported his net worth in April 2020.
It’s possible that such a large decline is related to the biggest Wall Street story of the year: the GameStop stock saga.
Two years ago, Jordan — the majority owner of the Hornets since 2010 — sold a minority share of the Hornets to two investors. One of them was Gabe Plotkin, founder and chief investment officer of Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that required billions in additional cash after incurring major losses due to a short squeeze of GameStop stock by groups of retail investors.
Details of Jordan’s current business relationship with Plotkin and the other investor, Daniel Sundheim, aren’t publicly known, but his Airness said while announcing their deal in 2019 that their investment was “invaluable” as the Hornets “strive to compete with the best in the NBA.”
Jordan, 58, initially built his wealth as an NBA superstar and one of the most successful brand endorsers ever. His purchase of a majority stake in the Hornets proved to be a shrewd investment as the value of NBA franchises surged over the last decade.
As of March 2015, Jordan was worth $1 billion, which rose to $1.8 billion by March 2019, per Forbes. He continued trending up to his high of $2.1 billion in April 2020 before taking losses the past year.
