Tiger Woods becomes first billionaire athlete

tag: sports


Malayala Manorama Indian Newspaper of Malayalam Language from eight places in Kerela

Friday,11 July 2008 18:22 hrs IST
Woods to become first billionaire athlete
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New York: Tiger Woods is on pace to pass one billion dollars in career earning by 2010, becoming the world's first billionaire to accumulate his fortune by playing sports, says Forbes Magazine.

The 14-time major championship winner earned 115 million dollars in 2007 alone, said the American magazine, which annually ranks the world's richest people with its Forbes' Celebrity 100 list. English footballer David Beckham was the No 2 sportsman on the list with earnings of 65 million dollars.

"It will be an unprecedented occurrence," the magazine said. "There are plenty of billionaires who have excelled at sports like Switzerland's richest man and champion sailor Ernesto Bertarelli. But there are no billionaires who accumulated their fortune by playing sports." The magazine goes on to say in its Wednesday edition that while tycoons like Bill Gates accumulated his wealth by holding a stake in a company with soaring profits, Woods is unique because his massive fortune was earned through pay cheques.

Woods is a sports marketers' dream, having earned more than 750 million dollars in endorsement deals to date in his career. At 32, Woods has won 50 tournaments faster than any player and is closing in on Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major championship wins.