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If you look at a list of the richest former NBA players, you’ll find one name far less recognizable than LeBron James, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan: Junior Bridgeman. Bridgeman never made an All-Star team and was never paid more than $350,000 a year. Yet he invested his way to an estimated $600 million net worth. Benzinga takes a look at how he did it.
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Ulysses Lee Bridgeman (also known as Junior) was born and raised in East Chicago, Indiana, where he had a distinguished career as a player on the Washington High School basketball team. Bridgeman's high school hoops exploits earned him a scholarship to the University of Louisville. He would grow up under the tutelage of legendary coach Denny Crum from 1972-1975 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 would play 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 the point at which their financial problems begin. A now-infamous article in Sports Illustrated noted that nearly 60% of NBA players will experience extreme financial problems (e.g., bankruptcy) after retirement. The risk is especially high for players who played in Bridgeman’s era. His $350,000 annual salary is barely half the league’s current minimum of $1.16 million (according to Statista). He made his first investment post-retirement by purchasing a Wendy’s (NYSE: WEN) franchise.
At the time, Wendy's was a fledgling hamburger franchise and perhaps a riskier bet than buying McDonald's or Burger King. But that probably also allowed Bridgeman to acquire his first restaurant for a lower franchise fee than established companies would charge. Bridgeman's first location was successful enough to make him a multimillionaire. Since then, Wendy's has grown into a powerhouse in the fast-food hamburger world, with locations across the country.
Bridgeman would ride that wave, growing Wendy's into a full-fledged restaurant empire, opening location after location and even branching out into other franchises by investing in a then-unknown casual dining chain called Chili's. By the time he stopped acquiring new locations, Bridgeman was a true restaurant magnate, owning more than 250 Wendy's and another 116 Chili's restaurants across the country under his company, Bridgeman Foods.
Bridgeman would eventually sell all of his restaurants in 2016, likely netting him hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. While most people at this point would have been content to walk away from the table, Bridgeman wasn’t. He branched out into new industries, even buying a Coca-Cola bottling plant. Bridgeman then founded a media company, Bridgeman Sports and Media.
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In keeping with his strategy of buying undervalued assets, Bridgeman Sports and Media acquired Ebony and Jet Magazines in 2020. Despite both publications having strong followings in the African-American community, they were bankrupt when Bridgeman came calling, allowing him to close the deal for just $14 million (according to Forbes Magazine). Both magazines have since reinvented themselves as digital publications under the leadership of Bridgeman’s daughter, Eden.
Today, Bridgeman’s portfolio is incredibly diverse, encompassing real estate, his Coca-Cola bottling operations, and emerging media interests. His current net worth is estimated to be around $600 million. Bridgeman has done an excellent job of growing his wealth, especially considering his estimated NBA career earnings were only $4,000,000. After taxes and agent fees, Bridgeman likely earned less than half of that, and not all at once.
Bridgeman has grown about $2 million in net income since 1987 to a $600 million portfolio. He has certainly outperformed all but a few fund managers. It's worth noting that Bridgeman's success is no accident. He spent his NBA offseasons at Wendy's learning the ropes before investing. Bridgeman's story is a textbook example of the potential benefits of preparing early and investing wisely.
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This article How This Retired NBA Player Invested His Way to a $600 Million Net Worth: Hint, It's Not Magic Johnson, Shaq, or Jordan originally appeared on Benzinga.com
