Tom Brady retirement: Here's a look at the NFL legend's business interests
NFL legend Tom Brady's retirement announcement on Instagram noted that his post-football plans include the business endeavors that he’s been developing throughout his 22-season career.
"The future is exciting," the post stated "I'm fortunate to have cofounded incredible companies like @autograph.io @bradybrand @tb12sports that I am excited to continue to help build and grow, but exactly what my days will look like will be a work-in-progress."
The 44-year-old amassed $293 million in salary earnings during his playing career, according to spotrac, and Forbes estimated that Brady has earned more than $160 million through off-field ventures.
Brady recently launched BRADY, a “next generation clothing brand,” and has also helped build out Autograph, an NFT platform that’s partnered with DraftKings (DKNG). The company offers NFTs of Brady and other famous athletes such as Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Wayne Gretzky, and Tony Hawk.
Though it’s unclear how much Brady stands to profit from the success of Autograph, the company recently raised $170 million in Series B funding. Autograph initially received a pre-money valuation of $700 million in July, according to data from PitchBook.
Brady has also shown interest in cryptocurrency. Along with donning the bitcoin-inspired “laser eyes” in his Twitter avatar, he has appeared in commercials for cryptocurrency exchange FTX (FTT) after he and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, acquired an ownership stake in the company. Earlier this week, FTX raised $400 million in a new venture capital round of funding and is now valued at $32 billion.
In addition to his more recent business ventures, Brady, along with body coach Alex Guerrero, is the co-founder of wellness brand TB12, which launched in 2013. The quarterback preached throughout his historically long career that the TB12 method is the driving factor behind his sustained success.
"The TB12 method and our business is really his lifestyle," TB12 CEO John Burns said on Yahoo Finance Live recently. "And aside from the commercial interests, obviously, of building a business, the opportunity to change people's lives is super important to him."
'The Tom Brady effect is very real'
Brady is also no stranger to appearing in commercials for various brands, including Foot Locker, Intel 360, Hulu, Uggs, and T-Mobile. And fellow NFL legend Peyton Manning has shown, lucrative sponsorships can still happen even after retirement.
One of Brady's most recent commercials for Subway featured the notoriously health-conscious Brady smelling a loaf of Subway bread. According to data from EDO, the commercial drove 141,000 additional online searches for Subway. To put that in perspective, viewers of the recent Brady ad were 68% more likely to search for Subway online than a viewer of an average Subway commercial over the last six years.
“The Tom Brady effect is very real,” EDO President and CEO Kevin Krim previously said on Yahoo Finance Live. “What we've seen over the last six-and-a-half years is that Tom Brady has a huge impact when he's in a game, and the effect on advertising in those games is elevated.”
And Brady already has an established platform to leverage his ads: The seven-time Super Bowl champion and the NFL’s all-time leading passer has more than 11 million Instagram followers and is already a content creator by posting short viral video clips after games, starting a podcast, and recently teaming up with ESPN+ for a 10-part documentary titled “Man in the Arena.”
Josh is a producer for Yahoo Finance.
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