How George Foreman Achieved a Net Worth of $300 Million
George Foreman is a man who has enjoyed success in several careers as he was a professional boxer, an author, an ordained minister, and an entrepreneur. Following a long and successful career, he has become a very rich man and has accrued an estimated personal net worth of $300 million. So, how did he earn his fortune? He was born in Texas on January 10, 1949. He was raised along with his six siblings by his mother and stepfather and had a troubled childhood, leaving school at just 15. He began playing football as a child but gave it up to concentrate on boxing, a sport at which he showed great talent.
Foreman won many competitive events as an amateur boxer and went on to compete in the boxing heavyweight division at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. In the final bout, he faced and defeated Jonas Cepulis from the Soviet Union to win the gold medal. His success in the Summer Olympics spurred Foreman on to become a professional boxer the following year. He achieved instant success and won the world heavyweight title. He continued to enjoy success in this sport for several years and retained his title against two opponents.
His first defeat came in 1974 when he stepped into the ring against Muhammad Ali in a match called ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’. Following this fight, he could not secure further title matches. In 1977, he lost a match to Jimmy Young and Foreman decided to retire from boxing. It was time for a change of career and Foreman experienced a religious epiphany around the time of his retirement. He chose a completely different path from his former sporting career and became an ordained minister.
However, he missed boxing and decided to make a comeback in 1994 at the age of 45. His opponent, Michael Moorer, was significantly younger than him at just 27. Despite his more mature years, Foreman knocked out Moorer to win the WBA, IBF, and lineal titles. To this day, George Foreman remains the oldest world heavyweight champion of all time. Similarly, he is the second oldest in any weight class. Foreman retired from boxing for the second time in 1997 when he was 48 years old. By the end of his boxing career, he had suffered only five losses and racked up 76 wins, including 68 knockouts. In honor of his boxing achievements, Foreman has been inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
Although boxing was his main source of income during the first half of his life, he has since made a significant amount of money from his involvement with Salton, Inc. and their George Foreman Grill. This remains a substantial source of his income. Following his retirement from boxing, Foreman had spoken publicly about his passion for healthy eating and he credited his success in the ring to eating healthily. At the same time, Salton, Inc. was launching a fat-reducing grill and they needed a famous spokesperson. They approached Foreman and they made a deal to use his name.
It has never officially been revealed exactly how much George Foreman has earned from his connection to the George Foreman Grill. However, it is known that he was paid $138 million for the use of his name in 1999 and that the deal included 40% of the profits from sales. Estimates suggest that he has earned significantly more from his involvement with the grill than he made during his boxing career. The fame and success that Foreman has enjoyed through his connections to the George Foreman Grill led to him endorsing InventHelp. This is the company responsible for the Invention and New Product Exposition (INPEX), which is currently the largest invention trade show in the United States.
Another source of income for George Foreman is the ten books he has had published. These vary in their genre and include motivational self-help books, autobiographical works, and a range of cooking books that include recipes to use with the George Foreman Grill. In his personal life, George Foreman has been married five times. He is a father to five sons and seven daughters. Two of his daughters are adopted while the rest of his children are from his marriages and another relationship. All of his sons are called George Edward Foreman but with the addition of either Jr. or Roman numerals to differentiate between their names. Although his oldest son is known as George Jr., his other sons have nicknames that they use instead of their given birth names.