Kobe Bryant's career earnings topped $680M
Former Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant earned more than $680 million during 20 years in the NBA before launching a successful business career after retirement.
The five-time NBA champion took in $323 million in playing salary, and $357 million in endorsements, Forbes reports. He and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were reportedly killed when an S-76 helicopter crashed near Calabasas, California, Sunday.
Bryant was married to Vanessa Bryant, and the couple had three other daughters in addition to Gianna.
Bryant played his entire career with the Lakers and won five NBA titles. He is fourth on the NBA's all-time scoring leader list.
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A first-round draft pick out of Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania, he averaged 25 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.
He was a high-profile rep for Nike, which agreed to pay him $10 million per year in 2003.
Even before leaving the game of basketball after the 2015-16 season at the age of 37, he had his eye on the business world. He was a partner with $100 million investment fund Bryant Stibel since it was founded in 2013.
He was an early investor in the Queens, New York-based BodyArmor sports drink as it tried to edge into Gatorade's market share.
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"It all comes down to the product having a point of differentiation," Bryant told FOX Business in 2017 regarding a 60-second BodyArmor ad he wrote, directed and narrated. "Once you establish a superior product, getting it into the marketplace and onto the shelf becomes the priority. Creating the message and communicating what separates the product - and individual athletes - from the competition, is the fun part."
Bryant also founded media production company Granity Studios, which won an Academy Award in 2018 for the animated short "Dear Basketball."
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"I built Granity Studios as a platform to create and share original stories to inspire today's young athletes," Bryant said in 2018. "There's surprisingly little content that combines the passion of sports and the traditions of original storytelling. Granity Studios will fill that void."
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