I just flipped through this fascinating list of the world's wealthiest athletes and had to look twice. Michael Jordan tops the list with $3.6 billion — incredible how much his NBA legacy still pays off today.

What surprised me: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are indeed in the top 10, but not at the very top. Ronaldo with $1.2 billion in 5th place, Messi with $850 million in 7th. Instead, I see many former basketball stars like LeBron, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O'Neal with $800 to $500 million each. The wealthiest athletes probably earn their fortunes less from active contracts and more from business deals and investments.

Also interesting: names like Vince McMahon ($3.2 billion) or Ion Tiriac ($2.4 billion) — not necessarily the first players that come to mind when thinking of the richest athletes. Probably because they were more successful as promoters and businessmen.

The whole list actually shows: those who truly become rich in sports build a business empire or make big money through investments. Today's top athletes, no matter how high their salaries are, only appear later on such rankings of the wealthiest athletes. It's interesting to see how much the fortunes vary.