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LeBron James Is Nearly a Billionaire — Now His Company, Too

It's good to be the king.

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It’s nice to be king. Aside from the Lakers‘ preseason losses, LeBron James had a wonderful month. First, Nike opened the LeBron James Center, and then The Swoosh joined a slew of high-profile investors in increasing the value of the firm he co-founded.

The SpringHill Company is the brainchild of James and his childhood buddy, Maverick Carter, who serve as chairman and CEO, respectively. It is named after the Akron apartment complex where James resided as a teenager. It was formed in 2020 as a result of the amalgamation of three earlier enterprises founded by James and Carter.

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Late last week, a consortium of investors led by Nike, Fortnite creator Epic Games, and the owners of the Boston Red Sox completed the purchase of a minority stake in SpringHill for approximately $725 million. James himself, for what it’s worth, is valued at about $825 million.

SpringHill is currently focused mostly on entertainment, having recently produced this year’s Space Jam: A New Legacy and managed projects such as Netflix’s Top Boy remake and the ThomaHawk podcast.

SpringHill also manufactures clothes through Uninterrupted and has a consulting division called ROBOT. SpringHill’s current investment drive has focused on these types of projects.

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SpringHill hopes to expand its reach in the fashion and gaming industries by using the expertise of partners such as Nike and Epic. Another new investor, Redbird Capital Partners, has a large portfolio of media and sports partners that SpringHill is trying to tap into, Carter told Bloomberg.

“We’ve gotten real traction and understand that the emotion and feeling of empowerment is needed,” said Carter. “The thing that I know, which is emotional storytelling, and doing it with the thread of empowerment, is vital.”

This mentality has influenced SpringHill efforts such as “These Hands,” a short film produced for Proctor & Gamble that focuses on Black professionals outside of sports.