From sport to media and industry. What are Cristiano Ronaldo’s business ventures?

It is not only on the pitch that Cristiano Ronaldo makes history. The Portuguese international player, who has set successive records in the world of football, became last year the first footballer to amass a fortune of over a billion dollars, continuing to add new investments to a portfolio that includes businesses in a wide range of sectors.

A week after announcing a $7.5 million (around €6.4 million) investment in the acquisition of 10% of a health and wellness platform owned by Herbalife, HBL Pro2col Software LLC, the Portuguese national team star announced that he had closed a new deal, this time in the world of football.

On Thursday, he announced the acquisition of a 25% stake in a Spanish second division football club, Unión Deportiva Almería (UD Almería). The acquisition, made through CR7 Sports Investments — a subsidiary of CR7 SA set up to manage the Portuguese national team captain’s investments in the global sports sector — is a step he claims is “decisive” in the expansion of his global investment portfolio.

But Ronaldo’s business deals don’t stop there. In June last year, he renewed his contract with Saudi club Al-Nassr for a reported $400 million.

In recent weeks alone, in addition to Herbalife, he has also invested in Artificial Intelligence (AI), with the purchase of a stake in Perplexity, the American company whose AI-based search engine stands out for providing direct and contextualised answers to users’ questions, and the investment in WOW FC, a Spanish mixed martial arts (MMA) organisation based in Madrid.

In addition to his vast wealth, CR7 has, in the last two years, created a film studio with British director Matthew Vaughn; strengthened his position in padel — a sport of which he is a well-known enthusiast — with the acquisition of the Lisboa Racket Centre in Alvalade; created a YouTube channel; spearheaded the launch of new partnerships associated with his investments in health and hotel brand concepts; and entered into a new strategic partnership with the American sports performance company Whoop.

Real estate, media and porcelain

In 2023, the Portuguese star became the new ‘media boss’ in Portugal through the acquisition of a 30% stake in Cofina, a group that controls the daily newspaper Correio da Manhã and the television station CMTV, as well as Jornal de Negócios, the sports newspaper Record, Sábado magazine, among other publications.

Less than a year later, Cristiano announced another significant investment, this time in Portuguese industry, becoming one of the largest shareholders in Vista Alegre. The captain of the Portuguese national team bought 10% of Vista Alegre Atlantis SGPS, a position valued at the time at €17.3 million, and, as part of the agreement, he then formalised the purchase of 30% of the capital of Vista Alegre Spain.

But these are just some of Ronaldo’s investments. He holds dozens of positions in domestic and foreign companies through companies he owns, namely CR7 Lifestyle and CR7 SA, with businesses in tourism, real estate, fashion, beauty, water, finance, health, media and industry.

Under CR7 SA, Cristiano Ronaldo controls companies such as the Portuguese Domum Septem, CR7 Footwear, 7Egend and Category Challenge – the latter has been inactive since 30 April 2021 and has minority or equal positions in five other Portuguese companies and foreign companies.

Notable among this range of businesses is a 50% stake in CR7 Marrakesh, the company that owns the Pestana group’s hotel in Marrakesh, and 50% of the capital in Maravilha Décimal, the company that markets Ursu9, the alkaline water that Ronaldo launched in partnership with Francisco Ferreira, a businessman from Vizela who owns the Outeirinho group.

Still under the umbrella of CR7 SA, Cristiano is a partner of Paulo Joaquim Silva Ramos in Insparya, a hair transplant company with operations in Portugal, Italy, and Spain, and in Recover Life, an Insparya group company that acts as a credit intermediary.

The footballer has also had an important partnership with the Pestana group since 2016, which has so far resulted in six hotels under the CR7 and Pestana brands, namely in Funchal, Lisbon, Madrid, New York, Marrakesh and Paris. The expectation is that CR7 and the hotel group will continue to take the joint brand to more regions in the future, namely Saudi Arabia, taking advantage of Ronaldo’s presence in the country.

He has also been a very active entrepreneur in the real estate sector. Among the many properties owned by CR7 are an apartment on Avenida da Liberdade, valued at over eight million euros, a house worth over six million euros in the United Kingdom where he lived when he played for Manchester United, and a villa in the exclusive LaFinca de Pozuelo de Alarcón in Madrid, where he lived during his nine seasons with Real Madrid, valued at over 15 million euros.

Cristiano Ronaldo also owns the public limited company Sessenta e Cinto Lote, which owns the Quinta da Marinha plot.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s business investments also extend to the events sector, through his 70% stake in Mussara (the remaining 30% belongs to his brother Hugo Aveiro), to gyms, with the CR7 Fitness by Crunch chain, through a partnership with the American company Crunch Fitness; and also to real estate promotion and brokerage, through a position in the brokerage firm Ponta de Lança.

Fortune worth over a billion dollars

Cristiano Ronaldo’s fortune was valued at over $1.4 billion in October, according to an estimate by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

According to the index published by the financial information agency, the Portuguese player became the first footballer with a net worth of over a billion dollars after renewing his contract in June with Saudi club Al-Nassr for a reported $400 million.

Bloomberg estimates that the player earned $550 million in wages between 2002 and 2023 and recalls the decade-long contract he signed with Nike, worth $18 million a year. Ronaldo also has other brand promotion contracts in his portfolio, such as Armani and Castrol, which add $175 million to his net worth.

But the highlight is his move to Al-Nassr in 2023, a decision that came as a surprise. Since then, Ronaldo has been earning $200 million a year in tax-free salaries and bonuses, plus a $30 million signing bonus.