Moneyballers: The highest-paid athletes in the world

5/2/23 8:00PM

Moneyballers‍

‍Forbes has released its annual list of the highest-paid athletes in the world, with Cristiano Ronaldo taking the top spot thanks to an enormous $136 million haul for the soccer star from May '22 to May '23.

‍Ronaldo’s enormous social media following — which totals more than 850m — helped him secure some of the most lucrative endorsement deals of any athlete, including a lifetime partnership with Nike. It also didn’t hurt that he signed a $75m-a-year contract with Saudi Arabia's deep-pocketed club Al Nassr.

Indeed, Saudi Arabia’s influence is felt across this list, with golfers Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson both making the top 10 after leaving the PGA Tour for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, earning tens of millions of dollars in guarantees. Elsewhere, LeBron James led the American contingent, out-earning his NBA colleagues Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, while French soccer star Kylian Mbappé made his debut in the top 10 and Lionel Messi cashed $130m after leading Argentina to World Cup glory.

Overall, no female athlete broke through the ~$90m barrier required to make the top 10. Last year, Naomi Osaka topped Forbes’ list of highest-paid female athletes with a haul of $51m — a list often dominated by tennis players.

‍Retirement fun(d)

‍‍Roger Federer, who might not be eligible for this list next year after hanging up his rackets in September, remains a marketer’s dream. Thanks to a long list of sponsorships — including LVMH, Rolex, Mercedes-Benz and Uniqlo — as well as a significant stake in the fast-growing Swiss shoe company On, the Swiss maestro brought in $95m… all in off-field earnings.

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Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

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