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If you look at a list of the NBA’s richest former players, you’ll find a name far less recognizable than LeBron James, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan: Junior Bridgeman. Bridgeman never made an all-star team or was paid more than $350,000 a year. Yet he invested his way to an estimate $600 million net worth. Benzinga sees how he did it.
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Ulysses Lee Bridgeman (aka Junior) was born and raised in East Chicago, Indiana, where he had an outstanding career playing for the Washington High School basketball team. Bridgeman’s high school exploits earned him a scholarship to the University of Louisville. He would grow up under the tutelage of legendary coach Denny Crum from 1972 to 1975 before being selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1975 draft.
The Lakers quickly traded Bridgeman and several other players to the Milwaukee Bucks for future Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bridgeman played with Milwaukee for the next ten years, averaging 13.5 points per game. He was then traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, where he played for two more years before retiring in 1987.
For many NBA players, retirement is where their financial problems begin. A now infamous Sports Illustrated article notes nearly 60% of NBA players will experience extreme financial hardship (eg bankruptcy) after retirement. The risk is especially high for players who played in the Bridgeman era. His annual maximum salary of $350,000 is barely half of today’s league minimum of $1.16 million (according to Statista). He made his first post-retirement investment by buying a Wendy’s (NYSE:WEN) franchising.
At the time, Wendy’s was an upstart hamburger franchise and perhaps a riskier bet than buying a McDonald’s or a Burger King. However, this likely also allowed Bridgeman to acquire his first restaurant for a lower franchise fee than more established operations pay. Bridgeman’s first place was successful enough to make him a multimillionaire. Since then, Wendy’s has become a powerhouse in the fast-food burger game with locations across the country.
Bridgeman rode that wave and grew with Wendy’s until he had a full-fledged restaurant empire. He opened location after location and even branched out into other franchises by investing in a then little-known casual dining chain called Chili’s. By the time he had stopped acquiring new locations, Bridgeman was a bona fide restaurant mogul who owned more than 250 Wendy’s and another 116 Chili’s restaurants nationwide under his company, Bridgeman Foods.
Bridgeman would eventually sell all of his restaurants in 2016, which likely earned him hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. While most people would have been happy to walk away from the table at that point, Bridgeman was not. He branched out into new industries and even bought a Coca-Cola bottling plant. Bridgeman founded a media company, Bridgeman Sports and Media.
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In line with its strategy of buying undervalued assets, Bridgeman Sports and Media acquired Ebony and Jet Magazines in 2020. Despite both publications having a strong following in the African-American community, they failed when Bridgeman called. This made it possible to close the deal for only $14 million (according to Forbes Magazine). Both magazines have since reinvented themselves as digital publications under the direction of Bridgeman’s daughter, Eden.
Today, Bridgeman’s portfolio is incredibly diverse and includes real estate, his Coca-Cola bottling plants and growing media interests. His current net worth is estimated at around $600 million. Bridgeman has done an outstanding job of wealth growth, especially considering his estimated NBA career earnings were only $4,000,000. After taxes and agent fees, Bridgeman probably netted less than half, and not in a lump sum.
Bridgeman has grown approximately $2,000,000 in net earnings into a $600 million portfolio since 1987. He has certainly outdone all but a few. fund managers. It should be noted that Bridgeman’s success is not an accident. He spent his NBA season working at Wendy’s to learn its operations before investing. Bridgeman’s story is a textbook example of the potential benefits of early preparation and wise investment.
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This article How this retired NBA player invested his way to a $600 million net worth: Hint, he’s not Magic Johnson, Shaq, or Jordan appeared originally Benzinga.com