NBA star Kobe Bryant prepping global brand post-basketball

Global Business

U.S. basketball great Kobe Bryant will soon be hanging up his Los Angeles Lakers jersey and retiring.

After that, he’s preparing to leave the basketball court to embark on the next stage – growing his brand into a global empire.

CCTV America’s May Lee reports.

Kobe Bryant is, without a doubt, the biggest NBA superstar on the planet and after 20 years as a Los Angeles Lakers, he’ll retiring on April 13. Rabid fans are flying in from all over the world to catch one of his final games.

Kobe’s list of achievements is staggering: five NBA championships, 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team and two time Olympic gold medalist.

Bryant’s well-known brand goes way beyond the basketball courts here in the U.S. and into countries across the globe. In China, Bryant is the most popular NBA player by far, so it should come as no surprise that his post retirement plans include growing the Kobe brand in China.

He has already formed partnerships in China. E-commerce giant Alibaba will work with Bryant’s three-year-old company, Kobe Inc., to create branded products and new social media platforms. He’s made a number of business investments from sports drinks to digital media platforms.

This 37-year-old soon-to-be-retired NBA star is nowhere near slowing down.