Golf icon Tiger Woods in on track to gain the illustrious distinction of becoming the world’s first athlete billionaire, says Forbes magazine. Woods, who won the U.S. Open while playing with a wounded knee last month, could reach $1 billion in career earnings by 2010, according to reports. “It will be an unprecedented occurrence,” said an article in Forbes’ Wednesday edition. “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 business mag pointed out, however, that earnings and net worth are two very different figures – citing that approximately 45% of earning dollars go to taxes and management fees. Still, if he continues as he has done since going pro in 1996, Woods should be a certified billionaire by 2011.
Woods’ potential billionaire status is unique because the athlete has earning his money from paychecks – not inheritance or stakeholding. “Think Bill Gates. He didn’t make his billions from his Microsoft salary, but from all the stock he owned,” the magazine quips.
Tiger Woods will be off the green for the rest of this year’s golf season. The champ will undergo surgery on a ligament in his left knee and require a recovery period. [source]
