#9: David Beckham and his BIG BUSINESS!!
What do you do with a face that is recognisable all over the world, with followers that love you, and respect you? You brand yourself... and you BRAND IT LIKE BECKHAM (IP credit: Andy Milligan)
First, some basic background:
David Beckham is one of the most renowned sports celebs of all time. He decided to call the curtain on a wildly-decorated football career in 2013 (having won 19 league titles all over the world). Turns out, it was only the beginning of a new journey. And, in philosophy, while the real joy may be in the journey itself, let’s not ignore the success that comes during the journey also. I certainly won’t.
That journey for Beckham has been business. And success — well, success is a success. In lucid terms, success for David Beckham is the business empire that he has built. One that has him sitting on ~$450 million of net worth. Combined, David Beckham and his wife Victoria Beckham are worth ~$1 billion.
Here’s a breakdown of how David Beckham earned his money and built his wealth over the years.
BUSINESS VENTURES:
David Beckham has proved to be a savvy businessman after his retirement. He is a co-owner of Beckham Brand Holdings, the holding company for all of David and Victoria’s businesses. Under Beckham Brand Holdings, are David’s two companies — Footwork Productions and DB Ventures.
BECKHAM BRAND HOLDINGS: The grand-daddy of all businesses run by David and Victoria Beckham.
FOOTWORK PRODUCTIONS: This company (managed by Beckham Brand Holdings) was set up by Beckham to manage all the football-related investments and his image-rights deals.
DB VENTURES: This company handles all the endorsement deals and brand partnerships of David Beckham. So, any campaigns with brands, building any new products etc. are all managed by this arm of Mr. Beckham. Beckham also invests in startups through DB Ventures. It has a profit of £90 million. (source)
Beckham’s business savvy isn’t surprising at all. Back in his playing days, he was well aware of his reach and popularity. He was this popular a figure because, at the time, he was not only a good-looking, likeable man but also the best player in the most famous club of the most famous sport. And yes, marrying Posh Spice (Victoria Adams)— a member of the popular girl-band Spice Girls — certainly helped that cause. He had international fame on top of the insane European fame. So, in 2001, Beckham asked his club Manchester United to pay him for using his image and name. Except, United already used to pay it to all its players. Every player used to receive a standard fee for lending their image rights, or name rights to be used in merchandise. But, Beckham wanted more than this standard payment. And by all means, Beckham deserved every single penny of it, being so popular and so appealing to the masses all around the world. And it is only fitting that the mission of Footwork Productions as described by the Footwork Productions itself is — The exploitation of David Beckham’s name and image rights.
SEVEN GLOBAL LLP:
Seven Global LLP is owned by DB Ventures. It was formed as a joint venture between Global Brands Group and David Beckham. Global Brands Group is a Hong Kong-based brand management company that also makes and sells its own products. In 2015, GBG joined forces with David Beckham to develop all the consumer product categories related to David Beckham. Seven Global LLP handles sales of all such items. Products are:
— Eyewear by David Beckham (Beckham’s own eyewear line)
— Fragrances and perfumes
— Adidas Beckham by Adidas (Adidas’ shoe line in collaboration with Beckham)
— Haig Club whiskey by Haig (Haig’s brand in collaboration with Beckham)
According to The Mirror, Seven Global brought in ~$17.4 million for Beckham from the sales of fragrances, apparel, footwear, watches etc.
THE ORIGINAL EASY-MONEY SNIPER (SORRY KEVIN DURANT):
Well, Messi V/S Ronaldo is a heated debate today as they both are neck to neck in every aspect of the game, on-field or off-field. But back in the early 2000s when Messi and Ronaldo were new, and so was social media, there were no such debates. David Beckham was the clear lynchpin of the football world. Now I am not saying he was THE BEST football player, but yes, he was definitely the most recognized one all over the world. FUN FACT: David Beckham was the most followed social media influencer in all of the United Kingdom in 2020. And that is why he has had (and continues to have) such a lucrative endorsement portfolio and made millions of bucks through his endorsements alone. Over the years Beckham has endorsed several including but not limited to — Pepsi, Gillette, Disney Parks, Samsung, Calvin-Klein, Armani, Adidas, H&M, Tudor Watches, Maserati among others.
Here are some crazy deals:
His Pepsi deal ran from 1998 till 2008. In this span, he reportedly made ~$2.9 million/year. Beckham signed with Gillette in 2004, a deal that reportedly paid him £40 million over three years. A similar deal with Armani paid him £20 million over three years to have him on board as an ambassador.
Beckham became the face of Sainsbury, a supermarket chain, in 2011. The deal was reportedly worth between $5 million and $8 million per year to Beckham.
In 2003, Adidas signed Beckham to a $160 million (~$238 million in 2021) lifetime deal.
Beckham signed a £16 million deal with Netflix for a documentary of his life and career back in October 2020.
Perhaps the craziest one here — EA Sports paid Beckham $71 million to use his name and image rights and feature him in FIFA 21 video game as an icon for three years. For context, Beckham made a total of $32.5 million from his playing salary during his time with LA Galaxy from 2007 to 2012.
Beckham made between $30 million and $50 million from salaries and endorsements every year from 2007 until his retirement in 2013. While this might seem paltry compared to Messi and Ronaldo’s $100 million-years today, earnings of Beckham were the gold standard for football earnings in those times. David Beckham was the first football player to hit $50 million in annual earnings, in 2013 (the last year of his professional career). It was after this that Messi and Ronaldo actually started taking over and obliterating all earning records in years to come.
INTER MIAMI CF and SALFORD F.C. —
David Beckham played in the USA’s Major League Soccer for the franchise LA Galaxy after his time with Real Madrid came to an end in 2007. Beckham played for LA Galaxy from 2007 to 2012. In the process, he earned himself a handsome $255 million in those five years, according to Forbes. This came in the form of Salary, revenue shares, endorsements etc.
When Beckham signed with the LA Galaxy, he also received an option to have his own team in the MLS in future for a discounted $25 million. To tell you how big a discount it is, anyone who wanted to have their own team in the MLS back then would have had to shell out $40 million for it. Beckham decided to exercise his option in 2014, meaning he got a MLS franchise to his name for $25 million in 2014. For context, New York City FC had to pay $100 million in 2013 to enter the league. The number of teams in the MLS has risen from 13 teams to 27 teams between 2007 and 2021. Today, the 28th and 29th teams will have to pay $200 million to have a franchise in the league while the 30th team will have to pay $325 million. Looking back, Beckham’s option is definitely a steal, and a smooth one at that.
Beckham exercised the option and got his own team in the MLS — Inter Miami CF. Its ownership includes David Beckham and Jorge and Jose — The Mas Brothers. Beckham and Mas brothers recently bought out the stake of SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. The franchise is now valued at ~$650 million. The stake in Inter Miami CF that cost Beckham $25 million is now worth at least $200 million (assuming he is an equal owner, if not the majority owner)
When David Beckham bid adieu to Real Madrid in 2007, his next destination was the USA. Now, football (or, as Americans call it —Soccer) wasn’t the most popular game in the USA. Or even the second-most, or the third-most-popular for that matter. David Beckham joined the LA Galaxy franchise of Major League Soccer (MLS). MLS was slowly and steadily succeeding in its mission of developing soccer in the US. Beckham coming to play in the MLS helped that cause big time. Soon, other marquee European players came to play in the league as well — Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and many more. This helped MLS make a name for itself outside of the US and players to make a name for themselves in the US.
Add to this list of football clubs owned by Beckham, Salford FC, a small-time club in England. Beckham owns 10% of Salford FC.
GUILD ESPORTS:
David Beckham signed a marketing deal with Guild Esports, a professional E-sports organisation in 2020. The deal was ~$20 million over five years. But, Beckham was betting so big on the organisation, that he decided to have some skin in the game. So, he bought into the team by paying $319,000 for its ~24.5 million shares. Guild Esports went public and now its one share trades at ~£5.5. This takes David Beckham’s stake in Guild Esports to ~£134 million or $185 million — meaning an insane 578x increase in the initial investment of $319,000.
STUDIO 99:
STUDIO 99 is a media-production company launched by David Beckham in 2019. The content will be in the form of documentaries, TV shows from the world of sports, travel, fashion etc. Along with that, it will create content for brands that partner with STUDIO 99. STUDIO 99 also entered into a partnership with Uninterrupted, the media company founded by LeBron James and team. Together, Studio 99 and Uninterrupted are currently working on the production of a documentary charting the journey of Inter Miami CF. This is what Beckham said of this partnership with Uninterrupted:
It’s amazing to see what guys that I admire so much, like LeBron and Maverick, have achieved. It’s inspired me to see what’s possible in my world. It’s just very cool to be working with friends and meeting so many new people who are doing great things and want [to] create exciting new projects with us.
Beckham will also star in ‘Save Our Squad’, a Disney+ original series being co-produced by Warner Bros. backed Twenty Twenty and Beckham’s own Studio 99. This was again a seven-figure deal for Beckham.
CHARITY:
All the wealth in the world means nothing if it can’t be used to make a difference in someone’s life. And David Beckham knows this very well. Beckham is not only a UNICEF ambassador, but he has actively worked with UNICEF on field since his playing days. In 2015, Beckham launched 7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund. In 2013, the last year of David Beckham’s professional career, he donated his entire salary of £3.4 million to two French charities for children. Here are some causes that Beckham works towards/ has worked towards:
Help for Heroes: for injured soldiers in Iraq and Afghan wars
Malaria No More UK
MLS W.O.R.K.S. — Major League Soccer’s community outreach arm that focuses on social issues.
Unite for Children, United against AIDS — for UNICEF.
…and much more.
Now, I don’t want to get into that never-ending debate of whether charity is altruism or tax evasion. One thing is for sure — that the donations and the efforts have helped the underprivileged for all we know. And that is what matters.
And this is all abut the business empire of David Beckham. It is largely built on the back of Beckham’s reach, popularity, and influence. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a crazy growth in all these businesses based on Beckham’s popularity. He’s doing new things to reach a newer and younger audience, putting himself out there and increasing his followers on social media as I write and as you are read. And, with the influencer marketing industry projected to be $24 billion by 2025 (growing at 32% CAGR), he’s not stopping any time soon. And yes, not to forget his other operations — his football clubs, media ventures, active investments in early-stage startups and any other line that he chooses to foray into.
That’s all from my side today. If you find content like this cool, do subscribe to MoneyPlay, to have more of such in the future right in your inbox, for free (And, if you found this long, then don’t blame me, blame David Beckham. And, subscribe anyway though).