Mansions, fancy cars, and a stake in a pro sports franchise—the spoils of wealth!
Rapper Jay-Z owned only 1/15th of 1 percent of the New Jersey Nets, but he was influential—he spearheaded the team’s move to Brooklyn and a change of a color scheme to black-and-white. In 2013, he sold off his share. The team is now co-owned by Jason Kidd, a former NBA star who led the Nets to their only NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003.
- Jay-Z is married to Beyoncé, who was once in the group Destiny’s Child with Michelle Williams…who owns part of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky.
- In 2008, Michael Jordan parlayed the substantial wealth he earned in the NBA to buy into an NBA team, becoming a co-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. In 2010, he became a majority owner, the first ex-NBA player to own most of an NBA team. (Owner of a minority stake in the team: rapper Nelly.)
- Businessman Stephen Ross owns 95 percent of the Miami Dolphins, but the other 5 percent—amounting to tens of millions in worth—is split between a number of famous people. Jennifer Lopez owns part of the Dolphins, as does her ex-husband, singer Marc Anthony, as well as Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson of the Black Eyed Peas, Gloria Estefan, and tennis players Serena and Venus Williams.
- In 2013, the Arena Football League approached Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley to ask if their band, Kiss, would perform at the AFL’s championship game. Simmons and Stanley did them one better: they bought an AFL expansion team for Los Angeles. The L.A. Kiss take the field later this year, in uniforms and helmets bearing the band Kiss’s logo.
- From 2004 to 2009, Jon Bon Jovi of Bon Jovi was a principal owner of the AFL’s Philadelphia Soul, a team he helped found. (He also appeared in ads to help popularize the startup football league.)
- The NBA’s recent ban of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling means he has to sell the team. Among the parties who are reportedly interested in buying the team: boxer Floyd Mayweather, actor Matt Damon, former Malcolm in the Middle star and Clippers season ticket holder Frankie Muniz…and Oprah Winfrey.