Kobe Bryant’s Estate Gets $400 Million Cut In Multi-Billion Dollar BodyArmor Sale
The estate of NBA legend Kobe Bryant is seeing a lucrative return on an investment he made years before he passed away.
In 2014, Bryan invested $6 million in sports drink company BodyArmor as one of its early backers, which bought him more than 10 percent of the company. But on Monday, Atlanta-based Coca Cola Corp., which already owned 85 percent of the company purchased the remaining 15 percent in a $5.6 billion cash deal.
That means Bryant’s estate profits $400 million on the deal, CBS News reports. Coke announced the purchase on Monday at 8:24 a.m., honoring the two numbers he wore while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996-2016.
"If it wasn't for Kobe Bryant's vision and belief, BodyArmor would not have been able to achieve the success we had,” BodyArmor co-founder Mike Repole said in a statement. Coke said BodyArmor is the No. 2 sports drink brand, second only behind Gatorade.
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Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden and the Phoenix Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith also invested in the sports drinks but it’s unclear how much they will profit.
Bryant, 41, was killed in a helicopter crash January 26, 2020 along with daughter Gianna, 13 and seven other passengers and a pilot in the hills near Los Angeles.
