Michael Jordan's competitiveness is unmatched. He never entered any contest without the absolute conviction that he would end up winning, and when he couldn't get the W, you know he would try harder next time to make sure that didn't happen again. Whatever he did, MJ was ready to give his everything and get the maximum benefit from it.
The biggest example of that was his basketball career. Still, even after he left the court for good, MJ started getting involved in new areas, always trying to get some victories. Whether it is his fishing boat, his NASCAR team, or the Charlotte Hornets, MJ is constantly trying to add more wins to his already impressive resume.
However, one of his biggest wins didn't happen on a court, a race track, or on his boat. The Jordan Brand was a big gamble for MJ and Nike, who see him as a big figure for the future. In the beginning, they weren't that popular, and it wasn't until Jordan arrived that the sales went up.
The Jordan sneakers are iconic now, making Jordan a lot of money. In the past year, the brand made over $5 billion for the first time ever, which meant His Airness would get a huge check. Joe Pompliano recently took to Twitter to explain how impactful Jordan was for this.
The Jordan Brand just crossed $5 billion in annual revenue for the first time.
That means Michael Jordan made $150M+ from Nike last year alone—or nearly 2x his career NBA earnings.
The part you didn't know?
Without this man, it would've never happened.
Amid a dispute between former Nike employees and the brand, Jordan was in the middle of a battle to get his services. The former employees tried to steal him from Nike and even took the initial designs for the Air Jordan III. In a last-minute move, Tinker Hatfield presented Jordan with a design with his logo instead of Nike's, and the Chicago Bulls legend fell in love with that.
After that moment, Jordan decided to create his own brand, making one of the best business decisions in the world of sports. Right now, Jordan makes $150 million per year with his brand, which is four times more than any current NBA player.
We could be telling a completely different story right now, but Nike must be happy that Hatfield took a risk, MJ liked it, and the relationship with the player only got better from that point.
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