Michaels Jordan's Economic Impact

Basketball superstar Michael Jordan is the most "powerful"celebrity on the planet," according to a ranking by Forbes magazine on March 22, 1998. Those making the Forbes Celebrity 100 list were awarded a "power ranking" that measures 1998 income and media buzz - a blend of prominence on the Internet, magazine covers, on television and radio and in newspaper clips - that can also be a measure of future earnings power (Celebrity power..., 1998, 104). Thus,

While comedian Jerry Seinfeld made the most money last year ($267 million) and teen heartthrob actor Leonardo DiCaprio appeared on the most magazine covers (14), it was Jordan who cashed in big time on his name recognition and turned his on-court prowess into $40 million in endorsement income. Jordan also registered more than 40,000 press clips. Only baseball slugger Mark McGwire (No. 23) topped it with 47,377, including 777 Web mentions, 492 TV and radio mentions and seven magazine covers (Celebrity power..., 1998, 104).

A French news agency in that same year reported that Michael Jordan has had an impact valued at more than 10 billion dollars on the US economy since he joined the National Basketball Association in 1984 (Jordan tops..., 1998).

Michael Jordan was born on February 17, 1963 and is the most famous basketball player in America. Until his retirement, he played for the Chicago Bulls and was known for his slam dunk. He spent his college career at North Carolin

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cologne and Rayovac batteries" (Benkoe, 1997, A1). One of his best deals was with Nike's Jordan unit, a separate division that operated as an independent enterprise. It was also good for Nike: "Air Jordans... sold $130 million in the brand's first year. (There was a drop-off in year two when Jordan missed 62 games with a broken foot.) By 1990, Jordan products--shoes and apparel--were generating about $200 million annually for Nike. Overall, Jordan products have grossed about $2.6 billion for Nike" (Johnson, Harrington, Urresta, Smith, 1998, 124). WorldCom signed Jordan in 1995, because it was a little-known telecom outfit that needed a "well-recognized endorser with a strong image and high credibility. The list of possibilities was short. Today, WorldCom uses Jordan in 80% of its campaigns" (Johnson, Harrington, Urresta, Smith, 1998, 124). Michael Jordan cologne, created by the designer Bijan, has so far had sales of $155 million worldwide, according to the designer's company. Hanes expects sales of Michael Jordan underwear to exceed $10 million annually. Add those figures to Space Jam ($230 million at the box office and another $209 million in video sales), and we've got $701 million in revenues, not including shoes a
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Approximate Word count = 1934
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)