Former NBA star Magic Johnson becomes fourth billionaire athlete

A fourth athlete has joined the world's billionaire club, according to Forbes.

Former NBA point guard Magic Johnson is now a billionaire, joining fellow NBA players Michael Jordan and LeBron James as well as golfer Tiger Woods as the only athletes to do so. The business magazine and media site estimates Johnson's worth to be around $1.2 billion.

As prolific a player as Johnson was during his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, most of the wealth that has made him a billionaire has come from smart business investments rather than money he earned during his playing days. According to Forbes, his total career earnings "add up to around $40 million." Also per Forbes, Johnson earned less than $5 million per year in endorsement money off of the court.

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How did Magic Johnson make his money?

The rest of the former Laker's net worth has come, in part, from his small stakes in professional sports teams.

He's a founding member of Guggenheim Baseball Management, the ownership group of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Johnson is also a minority owner of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks and MLS's LAFC, and he most recently was part of the new ownership group that bought the NFL's Washington Commanders over the summer.

A more significant part of Johnson's net worth has come from his Magic Johnson Enterprises investment company.

The company "has been a major player in everything including movie theaters, fast food franchises, real estate [and] healthcare," according to Forbes. It's Magic Johnson Enterprises' controlling stake in EquiTrust, a life insurance company based in Iowa, that makes up a majority of that $1.2 billion estimated net worth.

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Magic Johnson's excellent basketball career

Johnson played basketball at Michigan State from 1977-1979 and won a national championship with the Spartans by defeating Larry Bird and Indiana State in the 1979 NCAA tournament. The Lansing, Mich. native was voted Most Outstanding Player of that year's Final Four and entered the 1979 NBA Draft.

The Lakers selected Johnson with the first overall pick in that draft, and the former Spartan went on to live up to the expectations that came with his draft position. Los Angeles won the 1980 NBA Finals, and Johnson won Finals MVP, the only rookie to ever do so to this day.

Over the next eight years, Johnson and the Lakers won four more championships with the point guard earning two more Finals MVP awards.

The shining star's career was cut short when, ahead of the 1991-92 season, he tested positive for HIV. Johnson announced he would retire immediately as a result.

He ended up returning to action with a final, half-season comeback in 1996 before retiring permanently after the Lakers were bounced from the playoffs.

He averaged 19.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game with a 52% field goal percentage over the course of his 13-year NBA career.

Johnson retired having set two NBA records that stand to this day: 11.2 assists per game in the regular season and 2,346 assists in the playoffs.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Magic Johnson's net worth surpasses $1 billion