PORTLAND, Ore. — What would you do with $47 billion, give or take a billion or two?
For Phil Knight, co-founder and retired board chairman of Nike (NYSE: NKE), the possibilities are many, including making an offer to buy the Portland Trail Blazers. He and Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky made a $2 billion bid for NBA team, according to reports Thursday.
Knight is good for it. His net worth is estimated as $47 billion by Forbes' real-time net worth tracker, down $510 million this week. The Bloomberg Billionaire Index puts it at $46 billion, up $1.44 billion as of yesterday but down $16.3 billion year to date during a rocky period for markets.
The shoe mogul's wealth is based on his stake in Nike, which includes about 230 million shares held by the Knight family's Swoosh trust and 35 million in Phil Knight's name, according to Bloomberg.
The huge amounts his fortune adds and loses just in market fluctuations could pay for any number of sports franchises.
Knight has not been tight with his wealth, either, giving to causes including political campaigns, medical research and education.
- In the current election cycle, Knight has given $1.75 million to his favored Oregon gubernatorial candidate, former state Sen. Betsy Johnson. He also has donated $1 million to a political action committee supporting Republican legislators.
- Knight's political giving is dwarfed by his other donations. He and his wife, Penny Knight, recently gave $75 million to Stanford University for research on diseases of the brain. In 2021, the Knights gave a second $500 million to the University of Oregon for a science campus bearing their names.
- Last year, Knight confirmed he was the largest donor in UO's $270 million track and field stadium, though he declined to say how much he contributed.
- He has even given generously to himself — sort of. He gave $1.6 billion to his foundation in 2020.
- Tracking the Knights' gifts can be a challenge, but the Chronicle of Philanthropy ranked them at No. 4 on its list givers with $1.37 billion in gifts in 2020. The Portland Business Journal also devoted a 2018 cover story to Knight's giving based on 20 years of tax returns.
A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real real money. Considering Knight's world-class fortune, an NBA basketball team is almost small change, and a modest expenditure compared with the causes he has funded in recent years.
Read more at the Portland Business Journal.
