How Kobe Bryant Eclipsed His Entire NBA Salary Earnings With His BodyArmor Investment

Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant had an incredibly successful NBA career. He also had a successful business career after his retirement in 2016. Kobe Bryant joined Michael Jordan in the three-comma club in 2019 after amassing his career earnings to $1 billion.

Kobe earned $323 million in salaries throughout his NBA career with the Lakers. However, Kobe had multiple investments, and it all helped him cross his career earnings to $1 billion. Though we lost Kobe in a tragic accident in January 2020, Kobe’s investments continued to deliver massive returns, even after his tragic demise.

Kobe had some stakes in Bryant Stibel and Granity Studios. However, it was his investment in BodyArmor that delivered massive profits that even eclipsed his salary earnings in the NBA.

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Kobe Bryant’s BodyArmor investment overtakes his career salary earnings

Kobe invested in BodyArmor for the first time in 2014. He invested in 10% of BodyArmor for $6 million and subsequently became the third-largest investor of the brand. NBA’s James Harden, MLB’s Mike Trout, the NFL’s Rob Gronkowski, and the WNBA’s Skylar Diggins-Smith were the other investors of BodyArmor behind Kobe.

Kobe’s salary earnings throughout his career were around $323 million. According to several reports, the recent BodyArmor sale will help Kobe’s estate make around $400 million. This means his investment in the drinks brand has now eclipsed his NBA salary earnings.

“If it wasn’t for Kobe Bryant’s vision and belief, BodyArmor would not have been able to achieve the success we had,” BodyArmor co-founder Mike Repole said in a statement.

US-based Coca-Cola company recently paid $5.6 billion to take full control of BodyArmor. The Coca Cola-BodyArmor deal is now the largest amount the former has paid for a drinks brand. Coca-Cola originally had a 15% stake in the brand, but it later bought the outstanding 85% to take full control. In fact, Coca-Cola announced the deal at exactly 8:24 a.m. to commemorate Kobe Bryant’s two jersey numbers during his NBA career.

Kobe’s stake in BodyArmor had initially risen to $200 million in 2018 when Coca-Cola bought a 15% stake. However, now it has doubled with the complete buyout of the sports drink brand.

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