LeBron James becomes the 2nd athlete to become a billionaire (1st was Michael Jordon)

[Celerity]

6. There 2 that dwarf him. One, Faiq Bolkiah, is not really a fair comparison. He is worth $20 billion

but almost all of his wealth is because he is a member of the Sultan of Brunei's Royal Family. He is a professional footballer (what Americans call soccer) who plays for Thai club Chonburi and was at the academies of English sides Southampton, Leicester and Chelsea - he grew up in England after being born in the United States. He has also captained Brunei's national team and spent time playing for Maritimo in Portugal.

The second is a far more legit comparison, and may well pass up Bolkiah in net worth eventually, and he made his wealth via a business venture (as Lebron's billion is counting business-gained wealth) he started 14 years ago, whilst still a pro athlete.

Mathieu Flamini, is worth $14 billion and counting. He just turned 38yo (both he and Lebron were born in 1984), and only retired in 2019. He is a former footballer who played for top teams (French side Marseille, English sides Arsenal and Crystal Palace, Italian side AC Milan and Spanish side Getafe, plus the French National team).

Flamini is the co-founder of GF (The F is for Flamini) Biochemicals, the first company in the world able to mass-produce levulinic acid. He co-founded it whilst still a player, in 2008, when he was only 24 years old.