“Life doesn’t stop because something happens to you,” said Magic Johnson once. Hence, throughout his life, he has tried to make his life and others’ lives great. The Los Angeles Lakers legend, who earned five NBA championships and three MVP awards during his career, has transformed himself from a basketball icon into a business mogul. However, even though the center was quite dominant on the court, he was unable to sustain his dominance on one Forbes list.

Recently, Forbes released a list of the top 400 richest people in the United States. Now, if you think that earning up to a billion will make you the richest man, then you are wrong. Interestingly, the starting point of the list is $3.3 billion, which is a record according to Forbes and is $400 million more than last year. One question may arise: who didn’t make it to this year’s list? According to the magazine, which has a new term for these people: ‘too-poor billionaires’; the list includes names of personalities like Magic Johnson ($1.2 billion), Taylor Swift ($1.3 billion), Sam Altman ($1 billion), Oprah Winfrey ($3 billion), Arnold Schwarzenegger ($1 billion), and many more.

Although the Los Angeles Lakers legend didn’t make it to the list, no one can deny the massive empire that he has built. His ship of business acumen first set sail in 1987 when he started Magic Johnson Enterprises, which aimed to deliver consultancy services to underdeveloped communities, and the business was estimated by Fox News in 2020 to stand at a valuation of $1 billion.

Besides starting a company, the NBA icon invested in the sports industry. The second most important financial decision he made in 2012 came in January when he bought the Los Angeles Dodgers for an incomprehensible $2.15 billion. He also has interests in the WNBA team Los Angeles Sparks and the NFL team Washington Commanders. Moreover, the billionaire even expanded his sports investment portfolio last month when he invested in the Women’s Soccer Team, the ‘Washington Spirits.’ Although the details of the investment were not revealed.

However, there’s one thing that goes beyond his business ventures. After getting diagnosed with HIV in 1991, the former point guard pledged to show his support for the community. He set up the Magic Johnson Foundation, which still actively takes part in educating and giving support to the disease-stricken community.

Apart from his empire, it can be speculated that his earnings of $40 million during his 13-season NBA career have also contributed to his net worth. Surprisingly, even though Forbes removed Johnson from its list, it was the same company that had declared him a billionaire last year in the same month. While Johnson’s exclusion from the Forbes 400 might raise eyebrows, it actually highlights the extraordinary wealth threshold required for inclusion in today’s list. However, there’s one more investment that is too close to Johnson’s heart.

The recent ‘deeply personal’ investment of Magic Johnson

The basketball legend announced a significant $31 million investment in a medical enterprise. According to Johnson, this new investment is another step into his philanthropic measures to fight HIV.

Recently, the 65-year-old took to his Instagram to send out a very personal message about his investment with the firm ‘Alchemy‘. “Investing in Alchemy is deeply personal, not only as a person living with HIV, but because I’ve witnessed firsthand the devastating impacts of HIV in our communities. Alchemy’s commitment to eliminating barriers to care and serving the underserved through building and operating in-house pharmacies for HIV clinics is a mission I’m proud to support!” read the caption of the post by Johnson.

Alchemy is a San Francisco-based company that was founded in 2023 to provide services to pharmacies for Federally Qualified Health Centers and STD clinics. The work done by this company is quite similar to what is done by the ‘Magic Johnson Foundation‘. The capital raising process for ‘Alchemy’ was started by the finance firm ‘Andreessen Horowitz’ (aka A16Z) and the investors of this project included Magic Johnson, Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, Banc of California, Twine Ventures, Springbank, and AlleyCorp.

It can be speculated that Johnson’s involvement will provide both financial support and valuable guidance as the enterprise works to improve the lives of countless individuals. Certainly, it also great to see the NBA icon focus his energy on putting his money in the right direction, even if the investments don’t get him into the Forber 400.