When Manchester United sold soccer star David Beckham to Real Madrid for about $40 million in 2003, English fans may have seen the deal as an end to a golden era. But for Beckham, it was only the beginning of the multimillion-dollar successes to come.
In the last year alone, Beckham netted some $36.5 million from his brand licensing company, DRJB Holdings—according to The Times. Driven by high-profile partnerships with AliExpress, Stella Artois, and SharkNinja the holding company saw profits soar to $44.9 million—up 44% from 2023. Revenues rose to $92.3 million, with shareholder dividends set to exceed $80 million.
DRJB also controls Studio 99, Beckham’s production company responsible for his 2023 Netflix documentary. Its upcoming slate includes a documentary on his wife and fashion designer Victoria Beckham, set to premier this month.
In 2022, Beckham sold a 55% stake in DRJB Holdings to Authentic Brands, an American brand management company (subsidiaries include Reebok and Champion), for about $270 million. His business holds the remaining 45% share.
Today, he and Victoria have a combined net worth of roughly £500 million ($672 million), a figure that includes Beckham’s ownership stakes in America soccer team Inter Miami CF and British team Salford City FC.
Since retiring from professional soccer in 2013 after additional spells in Los Angeles, Milan, and Paris, Beckham has embraced business with the same intensity that made him a sports icon.
“In all honesty, business is very much like sport,” Beckham said at the Milken Institute Global Conference last year. “You have to be dedicated. You have to have courage to go into different investments and different deals and make big decisions. And you have to work hard.”
Beckham was knighted by King Charles III in June.
The athlete to investment aficionado pipeline
Beckham is part of a growing number of former athletes translating fame and talent into business empires.
Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, for example, has leaned in on investment and entrepreneurship to grow his wealth to some $500 million. The 53-year-old was an early investor in Google and has owned over 100 franchises, including Papa Johns, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and Five Guys. He also founded his own fast-food chain, Big Chicken.
Tennis star Roger Federer has gone further, joining the billionaire’s club with a net worth of $1.3 billion, according to Bloomberg. And although he made $130 million in prize money in part from winning 20 Grand Slam titles, his off-court endorsements and investments are far more lucrative.
In 2018, Federer signed a 10-year contract worth $300 million with Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo. The following year, he purchased a 3% stake in Swiss shoe company On, and thanks to its recent popularity explosion, has propelled Federer’s investment to at least $500 million.
Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Federer are among the handful of athletes to have surpassed billionaire status. With DRJB Holdings generating close to $100 million in annual revenue, Beckham could soon be knocking on the same door.