As the world continues to mourn the death of basketball icon Kobe Bryant, it has emerged that the athlete’s absence will not only be felt by the sporting fraternity, the business and investments family has also been hit hard by Bryant’s demise.
Before the helicopter crash that claimed his life on Sunday, January 26, in Calabasas, California, Bryant had used the vast sporting experience he had accrued from the court to build a business empire valued at over $991 million.
Among great investments he had sunk his money in is Bryant Stibel, a capital firm he co-founded with Web.com owner Jeff Stibel, CNN reported on Monday, January 27.
Bryant Stibel has stakes in technology, media and data companies and its assets are valued at least $1.9 million.
The basketballer also owned a sports drink known as Body Armor and the Kobe shoe line.
Some of Body Armor assets were in 2018 acquired by Coca Cola thus driving up Bryant’s net worth.
In 2016, the sportsman established a media company know as Granity Studios which deals in producing creative sports content and storytelling.
One of the greatest highlights in Bryant’s life in the business frontier was a partnership he landed with Nike, a footwear manufacturing company, and Los Angeles Boys and Girls clubs to form the Mamba League.
From 2017, the Mamba League grew rapidly training upcoming athletes through the Mamba Sports Academy.
During the ill-fated flight which also claimed the life of his 13-year-old daughter and six others, Bryant was travelling to one of the Mamba Sports Academies.
The academie’ impact has been felt in world economic giants like China, a development that saw Bryant land lucrative endorsement deals from Hangzhou headquartered e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Other companies that had worked with Byrant are McDonald’s, Turkish Airlines, Sprite and Nintendo.