Kobe Bryant Buys Into Bodyarmor 'Superdrink'

March 27, 2014
Preparing for retirement, basketball star makes his first investment.

Basketball star Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers on March 23 announced he bought a 10 percent stake in Bodyarmor, a relatively new performance drink based on coconut water, with "2.5 times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink."

The price of his investment was not disclosed, but Forbes magazine estimated it at $4-6 million. BodyArmor launched in 2011 and generated $10 million in revenue over the past 12 months. Sales more than doubled each of the past two years. The company has more than 100 investors, including high-profile athletes Buster Posey and Andrew Luck.

Other media reported Bryant will be the third largest shareholder behind founders Mike Repole and Lance Collins. He will sit on the board of directors but will not be in advertising campaigns.

Apparently looking ahead toward the end of his Hall of Fame basketball career (Bryant has 31,700 career points, placing him fourth highest of all-time), Bryant last year set up Kobe Inc. with a mission "to own and grow brands and ideas that challenge and redefine the sports industry while inspiring the world,” Forbes quoted him. Bodyarmor is his first investment.

Sponsored Recommendations

Revolutionizing Healthcare: The Impact of Digitalization in Biopharma Innovation

Biopharma enables an entirely new level of innovation that’s simply not possible in conventional drug development. It’s an approach that can fundamentally change the way healthcare...

Navigating the Automotive Industry's Electric Future

The automotive industry is at a turning point. Bloomberg estimates that by 2040, 54% of new vehicle sales will be electric. And by 2030, we’re looking at 100% of passenger vehicles...

Unified Process Control Brings Operational Clarity

Inland Empire Utilities Agency replaces its SCADA enterprise system with the PlantPAx Distributed Control System and reduces complexity for operators

PlantPAx DCS Improves Operational Reliability

KC Water calls on R.E. Pedrotti to replace obsolete wastewater SCADA solution with a unified Modern Distributed Control System (DCS).