Late last week, Bloomberg announced that Lionel Messi has officially joined the ranks of billionaires, based on their financial analysis. Before this announcement, our estimates placed Messi’s net worth at approximately $850 million.
If you’re familiar with CelebrityNetWorth, you might know that we typically approach other publications’ billionaire declarations with a degree of skepticism. Immediately following Bloomberg’s article, I composed a detailed critique of their methodology. Upon further reflection, however, I questioned my resistance to their claim. Why not embrace the idea? Why not join the collective notion that everyone is suddenly a billionaire?
So, is Lionel Messi a billionaire? Perhaps, but for those interested, here’s a breakdown of where our views differ from Bloomberg’s:
Harry How/Getty Images
$1.25 Billion Salary + Endorsements
The bedrock of Messi’s wealth is straightforward: over the past 20 years, he has amassed a substantial fortune through his soccer career. His earnings primarily stem from two major avenues:
- Salary
- Endorsements
Initially, Messi was affiliated with Nike at the start of his career. However, in 2006, he secured one of the most significant and financially rewarding endorsement deals in sports history. This deal, along with numerous other endorsements, has brought in approximately $500 million.
In terms of his salary for playing soccer, Messi has accrued over $750 million through on-field earnings and bonuses. When combined with his endorsement income, Messi’s total career earnings amount to around $1.25 billion in gross income.
After taxes and lifestyle costs, that quickly gets whittled down to $600-700 million.
Then you have his investments and other assets, starting with…
Inter Miami + Apple Deal
In 2023, it looked completely certain that Lionel would follow his longtime rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, to Saudi Arabia, lured by an absolutely staggering contract. At one point, it was widely reported that Lionel was offered a deal from a Saudi team that would have paid him $400 million PER YEAR. Who in their right mind would reject that kind of astronomical, generational wealth?
Lionel Messi.
The sports world was absolutely stunned when Lionel turned down the Saudi billions and instead opted to go to… Miami? To play in the MLS, a league historically viewed as a retirement destination for European stars, for a base salary reported to be around $54 million?
As it turns out, there’s a bit more to his salary.
While his base playing salary sits between $54 million and $60 million per year, his total annual club compensation actually scales up to the $70 million to $80 million range. That extra layer is driven by an unprecedented, ground-breaking revenue-sharing agreement with Apple TV+ for its MLS Season Pass subscriptions. When Apple signed a 10-year streaming deal with the MLS, they needed a global superstar to drive international subscriptions. Messi was the key. Following his arrival, the streaming platform reportedly doubled its subscriber base almost overnight.
That’s not all. Messi’s Inter Miami deal also includes an option to buy an equity stake in the team.
When he joined the team, Inter Miami was struggling on the pitch, sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. At the time, the club was valued (generously) at $500 million. Today, thanks basically entirely to Lionel Messi, the team’s valuation has tripled to $1.5 billion.
Messi’s exact Inter Miami equity stake has not been publicly confirmed. Some reports have suggested his deal could ultimately give him around 10% of the club, but the safer interpretation is that he holds a future minority ownership option. If he does have the option to eventually take a 10% stake, at today’s valuation, it’s worth $150 million.
Three problems:
- We don’t actually know what his eventual equity take might be. Maybe it is 10%. Maybe it’s 20%. Maybe is 5%.
- He doesn’t actually own anything right now. He has an option to buy in the future.
- Either way, what do you think Inter Miami is worth AFTER Lionel Messi retires? Will attendance, media rights, and sponsorships continue to grow if Lionel had a career-ending injury tomorrow?
The $232 Million REIT
Messi’s commercial real estate empire might be the smoking gun that bridges the billionaire gap.
For years, Messi’s family office quietly bought up European commercial real estate. They acquired seven luxury boutique hotels (operating under the MiM Hotels brand) in high-end vacation spots like Ibiza, Mallorca, and the Pyrenees. They bought office spaces in Barcelona, retail buildings, and luxury apartments in Paris and London. In early 2026, they even dropped €11.5 million to buy the massive, abandoned Galerías Via Wagner building in Barcelona to convert it into a commercial rental property.
To consolidate this empire, his family office bundled these assets into a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) called Edificio Rostower Socimi. In December 2024, they took the REIT public on a digital-only Spanish stock exchange. When the bell rang, the market capitalization was €223 million (approximately $232 million USD).
A $232 million market cap is an impressive achievement, but treating it as liquid cash for Messi’s net worth is a massive leap. Real estate is expensive to run. According to financial filings, Edificio Rostower actually posted a €1.7 million loss in 2023. When you factor in the commercial mortgages and overhead required to run seven hotels across Europe, the actual net equity Messi holds in that $232 million valuation is likely much lower. It is a brilliant, long-term wealth preservation vehicle, but it is brick-and-mortar paper wealth, not the liquid windfall required to instantly mint a billionaire.
New Endorsements And Investments
Messi has also been turning his fame into businesses that can outlive his playing career.
In 2024, he launched Más+ by Messi, a hydration and sports drink brand created in partnership with Mark Anthony International, the beverage company behind Mike’s Hard Lemonade and White Claw. The celebrity beverage category is crowded, but it can be extraordinarily lucrative when a brand breaks through.
Messi has also invested in El Club de la Milanesa, an Argentine restaurant chain built around one of his favorite staple dishes, helping with its international expansion.
Soccer Club Ownership
Messi is also building a soccer ownership portfolio.
He acquired the fifth-division Spanish club Cornellà. He has also added to his existing stake in Deportivo LSM, the Uruguayan side he co-owns with longtime friend and former teammate Luis Suárez. His family also helps run Los Leones, a lower-division club in his native city of Rosario.
These are not Inter Miami-sized assets. But they are strategically interesting.
The $850 Million To $1 Billion Bridge
So how do we get from our previous $850 million estimate to $1 billion?
The bridge looks something like this:
- A continued accumulation of Inter Miami salary, bonuses, and endorsement income.
- A more valuable and more clearly defined Inter Miami equity opportunity.
- Continued valuation growth of his Spanish real estate investment company
- Additional business interests in beverages, restaurants, and soccer clubs.
To be clear, I absolutely think Lionel Messi will become a billionaire without any doubts at some point, and I appreciate the argument that he is a billionaire right now. That difference is what makes the job of estimating celebrity wealth so interesting! Sometimes it’s fun to point out when a publication (cough cough Forbes) is shamelessly grabbing pageviews with a very light-on-reality headline. And sometimes it’s fun to just go along with the crowd 🙂
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