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Charles Barkley is a financially-savvy investor, but that hasn’t always been the case. The NBA Hall of Famer and renowned broadcaster credits Michael Jordan with helping him think outside of the box in the 1980s, ultimately leading him to future riches.
Barkley said Jordan’s impromptu investing advice after signing with Nike directly resulted in a $50 million pay day.
“At the time I was making about $3 million a year [from Nike],” Barkley told The Dan Patrick Show this month. “We were playing golf and he says, ‘Chuck, I was talking to somebody, I want you to quit taking $3 million. Take $1 million and take the other $2 million in stock options.’ So I call my people, because Mike has always been a brilliant businessman. They’re like, ‘this is risky.’
“You think he [Jordan] is going to be that great? And I said, ‘man, I ain’t never seen nobody like that dude.'”
Stock options is an area Barkley never considered before chatting with Jordan on the links. Jordan hasn’t played in the NBA in more than two decades, yet he still brings in record numbers from the Nike in endorsement contracts.
According to Front Office Sports, Nike subsidiary ‘Jordan Brand’ recently surpassed $5 billion in total revenue and Jordan collects 5% of that based on terms of his original licensing deal with the sportswear giant. That quarter-of-a-billion figure check to the NBA’s greatest player of all-time is more than double his career salary earnings with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards.
When Barkley called Nike to make the switch to stock options within his contract, the company was trading a just over $1 or two a share in the early 1990s. As of Thursday, Nike’s stock price was $62.76 per share, with Jordan Brand’s valuation at more than $6 billion.
Barkley and Jordan’s friendship started long before the two were vital members of the ‘Dream Team’ at the 1992 Summer Olympics when…
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