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      "text": "Have you ever lived without heat in the winter? LeBron has. He's even had to live out of his mother's car. LeBron didn't have sleepovers just for fun. He slept on friends couches to survive. Now, he's an NBA superstar and one of the richest athletes of all time. Here's LeBron's rags to riches story and a review of financial moves that took him from broke to a billionaire. LeBron James spent half of his childhood without a permanent home. His mother, Gloria, had him when she was 16. And by the time LeBron was 3, his grandmother had passed away. Without heat in their old deteriorating house, Gloria was forced to move around for LeBron to survive cold Ohio winters. They would stay with relatives or friends for a few weeks, with LeBron often sleeping on beat up old couches. Out of 160 school days in the 4th grade, LeBron was absent for 82. Then one day, thankfully, LeBron found his guardian angel. That angel's name was Frank Walker senior, whose son, Frank junior, played pee wee football with LeBron. Finding out about his horrible living conditions, Walker offered Gloria that LeBron can live with his family until she finds a stable job and gets on her feet. It was one of the toughest decisions of Gloria's life, but she accepted, and the 9 year old LeBron became the newest member of the Walker family. Finally, for the first time in his life, LeBron found stability. He had perfect attendance in 5th grade with a b plus grade average. Around that time, he also started playing AAU basketball and soon fell in love with the sport. In 6th grade, Gloria found a stable job and an apartment, and LeBron moved back with his mom. Throughout all hardships, he continued to develop his basketball skills. And in 8th grade, he was already dunking. As a high school freshman, LeBron was already so good that he led his Saint Vincent Saint Mary High School to an undefeated season and a state title. As a sophomore, James averaged 25.2 points and 7.2 rebounds with 5.8 assists and 3.8 steals per game. And Saint Vincent Saint Mary won another state championship. And before his junior season, LeBron appeared on the cover of Slam and Sports illustrated, which made him the most popular high school basketball player of all time. Life was good. Glory and LeBron weren't homeless anymore, but they certainly weren't rich. However, there was a feeling that it was soon going to change. So when LeBron was a senior, Gloria gifted him a $50,000 Hummer H2, which stirred national controversy. LeBron and Gloria were on public assistance at the time, living in a modest 2 bedroom apartment on Akron's tough west side. There was no way they could afford such a luxury vehicle, but LeBron was months away from becoming the number one pick in the NBA draft. And it was the safest bet in the world to loan him and his mother the car. LeBron hadn't even been drafted yet and was already hanging out with pro athletes and rappers. He was driving an expensive car. Generally, he was still pretty broke, which makes this next financial move completely bonkers and shows how crazy intelligent he is. When James was still playing for Saint Vincent Saint Mary, Reebok offered him $10,000,000 All he had to do was choose to sign with them and not accept any meetings with Nike and Adidas. At the time, LeBron was an 18 year old kid who had been homeless half his life. He was now holding a $10,000,000 check. While 99.9% of people in the same situation would jump at that kind of money, LeBron turned it down. He realized that other shoe executives would also be desperate for him to wear their brand's logos, So he waited for a better offer. On the very next day, he was sitting in a high school classroom, broke as ever, knowing that if he got injured in practice, he might never see this kind of money again. But he bet on himself, and this proved to be the first out of many smart financial decisions to come. After months of pitches, wining, and dining, Reebok eventually offered James $115,000,000 to sign with them. However, in late May of 2003, LeBron decided to sign with Nike, autographing a 7 year $87,000,000 contract. James chose the Swoosh brand because he believed it would be a better long term fit despite Reebok offering $28,000,000 more. If he had accepted the initial $10,000,000 offer, Reebok would have probably signed him for a much lower price. But because he rejected them, shoe companies were forced to bid against themselves and up the ante. And ultimately, James signed the biggest shoe deal in history for a rookie. In fact, LeBron wasn't even a rookie when he signed the shoe deal. He wasn't even drafted yet. The 2003 NBA draft happened 1 month later. And LeBron, as expected, was selected number 1 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. His first NBA contract was for $18,000,000 over 4 years, which means that LeBron signed two deals with more than $100,000,000 before he even played one minute of NBA basketball. Of course, King James proved that the hype was real and that investing money in LeBron was a smart call. In 2004, he became rookie of the year. And in 2005, he was already an all star and named to the all NBA second team. With that kind of success riding the initial hype train, the LeBron mania amongst advertisers could only grow bigger. James became a brand ambassador for Coca Cola, State Farm, Samsung, McDonald's, and many others. In 2006, the Cavs offered him a maximum rookie extension, and James signed for additional 4 years $60,000,000 He could have chosen a 5 year contract, but he smartly opted for more flexibility over a few extra dollars. A move he often repeated in business, firmly believing in his worth. Repeated in business, firmly believing in his worth. Come 2010, after his deal was up, LeBron became a free agent. He chose to announce his free agency decision on national TV. 13,000,000 people were watching when LeBron uttered the infamous words. In this form I'm gonna take my talents to South Beach and, join the Miami Heat. While the decision was tacky and it brought him hate from the entire NBA world, he did raise over $7,000,000 which LeBron donated to the boys and girls club and various other charities. James' contract with Miami was worth $110,000,000 over 6 years, with the early termination clause after year 4. And interestingly, LeBron, Wade and Bosh all gave up more than $10,000,000 each. Signing for less than the maximum, so they could work all 3 of their deals into the salary cap. In 2011, LeBron was the most heated man in basketball. And the majority of the world was happy when he lost the finals to Dirk and the Mavs. But next year, LeBron bounced back, spectacularly got rid of the Celtics. But his decision became worth it when Miami defeated the Thunder for his 1st NBA title. Next year, the Heat repeated his champions. But after they lost in 2014, LeBron was on the move again, rejecting Miami and heading home to Cleveland. Apart from making a full circle and promising to bring a title to his hometown, it was interesting how James structured his contract. Instead of signing a 4 year deal, he opted for a 1 year contract for the player option. It was the first time ever a player chose that kind of short term contract, but it proved to be a really smart move on many different levels. 1st, it kept the pressure on the cavaliers to keep improving the team, knowing that James could leave each summer. When LeBron rejoined the cavaliers in 2014, the cavs didn't get own his bird rights, which meant they could only offer him a 4.5% raise each year. When the cavs regained his bird rights, it allowed LeBron to sign a deal with 7 and a half percent raises each season. However, the most notable reason for LeBron was surely the incoming 2016 TV deal, which caused the salary cap to explode. In 2015, LeBron opted out of his contract, signed another 1 plus 1 deal with a player option, and opted out again after winning the title in 2016. And that's when he decided to cash in, signing a $100,000,000 contract for 3 years. With a $31,000,000 salary for the 2017 season, LeBron became the highest paid player in the NBA for the first and only time. That basically means he was underpaid for his entire career based on his production and value on and off the court. James knows it too, but he made sure he doubled and tripled his salary with smart investments. Shortly after the decision and moving to Miami, LeBron started fully realizing the power of equity and ownership instead of just receiving short term cash for endorsements. In 2011, he bought 2% of ownership in Liverpool Football Club for 6 and a half $1,000,000. The club's value skyrocketed in recent years from $480,000,000 in 2010 to more than 4 and a half 1000000000 today. Fenway Sports Group, which acquired the English club in 2010, agreed to trade Lebron's 2% ownership of Liverpool into 1% ownership of the entire company. Apart from Liverpool, the Fenway Group also owns the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins, Fenway Park, and 80% of the New England Sports Network. When LeBron played for team USA at the 2012 Olympics, he gifted the entire team Beats by Dre headphones, and the whole team of the most popular athletes at the Olympics wore them before and after the games. It was marketing at its finest, but LeBron didn't get any cash for endorsing Beats. Instead, he received small ownership of the company. When Beats sold to Apple for $3,000,000,000, Kendrick Perkins claimed that LeBron's cut was worth nearly $700,000,000, but that is exaggerated. James probably earned around $30,000,000 when he had sold, plus some Apple stocks that tripled their worth today. In 2015, James walked away from an endorsement agreement with McDonald's worth an estimated $15,000,000 and instead became an investor in the fast growing Blaze Pizza chain. He reportedly paid just $1,000,000 for a 10% slice of the pizza company. Pun intended. Blaze Pizza has since grown to more than 300 company owned and franchised stores throughout the US and Canada, and LeBron's share is now worth more than $30,000,000 Also in 2015, he signed a lifetime deal with Nike, which is estimated to rake in more than $30,000,000 annually into Lebron's account. James has taken equity in brands like fitness company Beachbody, which acquired Ladder, the sports nutrition company James co founded with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also owns stocks in Apple, Lyft, and some other well known brands, and is endorsing huge companies like AT and T, Pepsi, and Kia. But again, that's not where he makes most of his bread. It's almost unbelievable how he does it, but LeBron is also the owner of multiple businesses. Even though the decision became a flop from the basketball standpoint, LeBron and his longtime friend and business partner Maverick Carter quickly realized the power of producing their own content and how they are no longer confined by TV and big media companies. In December 2014, LeBron and Maverick launched uninterrupted, a digital platform designed for athletes to give testimonials about their experiences. Their most notable project is the shop, a talk show that features famous people from all forms of entertainment. In 2020, Uninterrupted, James' marketing agency, and SpringHill Entertainment all became the SpringHill production company. With more than 100,000,000 raised by investors, SpringHill quickly became a major player in movie production. Their most notable project is Space Jam 2, starring LeBron, which earned more than $160,000,000 worldwide. They also produced the HBO documentary, what's my name, Muhammad Ali, and the Netflix movie, hustle, starring Adam Sandler, among other projects. In October of 2021, Spring Hill reportedly sold a share of its company for $725,000,000, but LeBron still remains the biggest shareholder. In 2022, Forbes announced that LeBron became a billionaire, becoming just the 3rd billionaire athlete ever behind Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. James is currently the all time leader in earned salary in NBA history, and he'll finish the 2023 season with $435,000,000 earned in the NBA before taxes and fees. Considering James is still averaging nearly 30 points per game, it's reasonable that he'll sign another maximum contract that would push his NBA earnings over half a $1,000,000,000. Considering that he owns several companies, is a marketer's dream for endorsing products, is a smart investor in up and coming startups, and his lifetime deal with Nike, he's still going to earn about a $100,000,000 every year even when he retires. That's a solid chunk of change for a kid from Akron who couchsurfed to survive. And it's safe to say that he really is the chosen one and the king.",
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