First billionaire athlete

Michael Jordan is the first billionaire athlete.

It's a safe bet that Tiger Woods and LeBron James will be #'s 2 and 3.

Even for the most legendary athletes, huge salaries will not propel them into the billionaire category because their careers are too short and the amount of money, amazingly, not nearly enough. (A billion is a thousand millions.)

Although entertainers are often held as examples of ridiculous wealth, only a few have made it into the billionaire category, and even then only by selling products outside of the entertainment sphere (e.g., Air Jordans, Oprah's many business ventures).

Wikipedia's list of richest billionaires. Note that Jordan and Oprah are not even close to the top 100.

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So how are billionaires made? My own observations...

1. Most commonly by selling something that is ubiquitous and cheap, and hard to replicate.
2. By inheriting money from from a rich relative who let their investments grow.
3. By making some great (or really lucky) investment decisions.
4. Least commonly by government sponsored monopolies.