Italian Serie A NewsCristiano Ronaldo to become first billionaire footballer
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Cristiano Ronaldo’s earning power through social media and his move to Italy is immensely taking his personal wealth to heights previously reached by Tiger Woods and Floyd Mayweather as active sportsmen.

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After the social media power play, Cristiano Ronaldo is fast closing in on as being able to term himself the first football billionaire.

Even after he agreed to take a pay cut, however, this is not set to slow down the Portuguese captain’s growing personal wealth.

Ronaldo’s on and off-field earnings will soon see him join sport’s exclusive club which currently features only boxer Floyd Mayweather and Tiger Woods.

In 2019, Ronaldo hauled in £88million as football’s second-highest-paid player. Behind him was the long-time rival, Lionel Messi.

A staggering £52million of that comes through his contract with the Bianconeri-albeit taxed at 43%.

But, it is off-the-pitch where Ronaldo is making more money than ever before. Last year alone, he earned £36million through commercial ventures.

Having swapped Spain for Italy in 2018, the greatest of all times is making his commercial deals go further. This is necessitated with earnings from Tag Heuer, Nike and his own CR7 brand running into the millions. However, each is subject to a single flat tax of under £100,000.

Ronaldo’s commercial value drives mega-money to his sponsors through his mass ranks of followers on social media.

The Champions League’s record goalscorer made 30% more from paid Instagram posts. This is during his first season at Juventus than his take-home pay from the club.

All, including the Serie A side, feel the “Ronaldo effect.”

Shares in the Italian champions rose to unprecedented levels in the three months after his £88million signing in 2018. This almost doubled in value.

His 2018/19 hat-trick performance against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League directly led to a 24% jump in share price.

Even now, having dropped considerably amid football’s suspension, they remain comfortably above where they stood before his arrival. The club itself has experienced huge marketing growth across the globe largely down to its association with CR7.

Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

Across Ronaldo’s social media pages, the forward boasts 420million followers and each advertised post earn him in the region of £900,000.

Simply, as his followers on social media have continued to increase, so too has his earning power.

Forbes’ sports money analyst, Christian Settimi last week declared, “With the additional $45million he makes as a walking billboard, pitching products head to toe for the likes of Nike and his CR7 line of underwear, footwear and cologne, Ronaldo can still earn $91million annually to retain his standing among the best-paid in all of sport and still become the third active athlete to crack the $1billion mark in career earnings at the end of the season.”

It is for this reason why Ronaldo has so embraced social media more so Instagram.