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In less than a decade, Michael Jordan’s NBA team has gone from debt-riddled to consistently profitable, helped by revenue-sharing and increased interest from fans and sponsors.

Based on Forbes’ most recent NBA valuation estimate, Michael Jordan has made a huge paper profit on his original purchase of the Charlotte Hornets.

If Forbes’ annual NBA franchise valuations are at all accurate, Charlotte Hornets majority owner Michael Jordan is on track to quadruple his investment since 2010.

Forbes estimates the Hornets are worth $1.05 billion in a story published this week. While that ranks only 28th among the 30 NBA franchises, it’s a 35 percent rise in the franchise’s value in 2017. Jordan owns the vast majority of the Hornets, after acquiring majority control from founding owner Bob Johnson of the then-Charlotte Bobcats in March 2010.

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According to an NBA source familiar with the terms of Johnson’s deal with Jordan, it was based on a franchise value of $287 million. That same source said Jordan’s upfront cash outlay was approximately $30 million. Most of Jordan’s financial responsibility was assuming debt Johnson took on in the start-up cost of the expansion franchise in 2004.

Forbes’ estimate suggests the Hornets had operating income of $21 million in 2017, on revenues of $202 million. Forbes noted the Hornets have approximately 11,000 season-ticket holders and have recent advertising deals on their uniforms with LendingTree and Jordan Brand.
 

MORE ON THE “GOAT” OF BASKETBALL @Jumpman23, MICHAEL JORDAN:


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MJ is about to have his own spot to take on the world’s best in Hobe Sound, Florida.

Michael Jordan is many things to many people: the greatest basketball player of all time, a business and NBA team owner, and a golf enthusiast. And now those passions are about to intersect as Jordan builds his first golf course, dubbed Grove XXIII. The course will be built in Hobe Sound, Florida, which is just north of West Palm Beach, and it will reportedly open in 2019.

Bobby Weed is designing it, and he recently noted some of its uniqueness in a release.

(The course will be) routed with the south Florida trade winds in mind. The two nines wrap around each other while traversing the site in opposing directions. This dynamic layout ensures that golfers will feel the breeze from every quarter.

Weed describes the design process, and creating “a course for tomorrow, with a refined edge.” He added, “knowing the caliber of the membership and Michael’s passion for golf, we are designing a forward-thinking, progressive layout.”

Jordan, who is the majority (but not sole) investor, is apparently intimately involved with the project as the two move forward to make something special. According to Golfweek, MJ is making weekly visits.

Weed, who has never been shy to move ground to create playable space, says the near flat site is getting a lot of earthwork. He’s also impressed with the way Jordan has thrown himself into the project, including weekly onsite visits. Not all owner/developers are able to figure out what’s going on with bare ground. But his Airness is proving the exception, says Weed. “He can see it in the dirt.” 

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This should not be super surprising. Jordan is obsessed with golf and has a ton of money. At some point the question becomes, Why wouldn’t you build a course? He plays with guys like Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley often, and Fowler even noted two years ago before the Honda Classic that facing Jordan with some bills at stake is great practice.

“Plus, you’re playing with MJ. It can’t get any better than that.”

Now they can do so on a course Jordan owns.

A BRIEF SYNOPSIS ON MR. M.J.:

Michael Jeffrey Jordan, “THE GOAT”,  also known by his initials, MJ, is an American retired professional basketball player, businessman, and principal owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Jordan played 15 seasons in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards. His biography on the NBA website states: “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.” Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

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Jordan played three seasons for coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina. As a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels’ national championship team in 1982. Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984 as the third overall draft pick. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames Air Jordan and His Airness. He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a “three-peat“. Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season and started a new career playing minor league baseball, he returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three additional championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as a then-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in January 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Wizards.

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Jordan’s individual accolades and accomplishments include five Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances, three All-Star Game MVP Awards, ten scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP Awards, and the 1988NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. Among his numerous accomplishments, Jordan holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring average (33.45 points per game). In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press‘s list of athletes of the century. Jordan is a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame, having been enshrined in 2009 for his individual career, and again in 2010 as part of the group induction of the 1992 United States men’s Olympic basketball team (“The Dream Team”). He became a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2015.

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Jordan is also known for his product endorsements. He fueled the success of Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1985 and remain popular today. Jordan also starred in the 1996 film Space Jam as himself. In 2006, he became part-owner and head of basketball operations for the then-Charlotte Bobcats, buying a controlling interest in 2010. In 2015, Jordan became the first billionaire NBA player in history as a result of the increase in value of NBA franchises. He is the third-richest African-American, behind Oprah Winfrey and Robert F. Smith.