LeBron James vs. Ronaldo: Who's More Popular?

LeBron James is an American basketball player currently playing for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA. Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese professional soccer player currently playing for Juventus Football Club in Italy. 

Between the two athletes, Cristiano Ronaldo is the more popular one. Ronaldo has 227+ million followers on Instagram, while LeBron James has 67+ million followers. They are both among the highest-paid athletes in the world, with Cristiano Ronaldo placed higher on that list. 

To learn more about LeBron James’ and Cristiano Ronaldo’s business ventures, continue reading. 

LeBron James’ portfolio 

LeBron James has been in the NBA for 17 years, where he has played for Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and the Los Angeles Lakers. At the age of 35, James is still one of the best basketball players in the league and one of the richest athletes in the world. 

LeBron James has earned around $224 million from his NBA contracts during the 17 year career, however most of his wealth stems from other business ventures and endorsements. James has built a diversified business portfolio over the years. 

James owns 14 Blaze Pizza franchises, his own production company, “SpringHill Entertainment”, and a 2% stake in F.C. Liverpool worth $32 million. LeBron James was also a silent investor in Beats by Dre, which, once it was sold to Apple for $3 billion, James got a $700 million check for. 

The most notable of all business ventures LeBron James embarked on is the lifetime deal with Nike. This particular deal is different that any other athlete endorsement Nike had done so far.

Nike merged with the LeBron James brand, which is what no player had done before. The lifetime contract is reportedly worth $30 million per year, which could easily sum up to $1 billion by the time LeBron James is in his 60s. 

There are other endorsements LeBron James had, such as McDonald’s, Kia, and Coca Cola. However, something more notable than his endorsements is his philanthropy. 

LeBron James is an extremely generous person who continually makes donations, especially to the people of his hometown Akron, Ohio. James founded the “After-School All-Stars” program for the children of Akron.

The program’s mission is to keep kids in school, so it provides mentoring, extracurricular activities as well as help with education. James even partnered up with the University of Akron and sponsors the children to be able to attend the university after high school. 

LeBron James even built a public elementary school in Akron, Ohio, named the “I Promise School”. The school was purposely meant for at-risk youth for whom it will provide a stable education with a focus on STEM-based curriculum. 

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portfolio 

Cristiano Ronaldo also has a diversified business portfolio. His current net worth is around €466 million, and he is expecting to earn €120 million during the four-year contract with Juventus. 

Ronaldo’s most recent venture is in the haircare industry. He partnered up with a hair treatment clinic, Insparya, to establish the Cristiano Ronaldo Hair Clinic. 

Ronaldo also stepped into the hotel industry, where he has a stake in two hotels in Portugal, and a joint venture with Pestana Hotel Group for his hotel “CR7 Hotels”. Cristiano Ronaldo is planning on opening hotels in Paris, New York, and Spain. 

He also invested in the restaurant business and is one of the partners in the Grupo Mabel Capital which owns the Tatel chain of restaurants. He also teamed up with the Crunch Franchise to open up his own CR7 Crunch Fitness in Madrid. 

Besides having a fragrance line, Cristiano Ronaldo often models his own underwear line called “CR7 Underwear”. 

Ronaldo was the second athlete after LeBron James to strike a lifetime deal with Nike, reportedly also worth $1 billion.  Just like LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo is a great philanthropist. 

Cristiano Ronaldo very often makes charitable donations to various charities and often donates his awards or possessions to be auctioned off, such as the Ballon d’Or trophy he won in 2013. The trophy raised half a million pounds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. 

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