How much is Lance Armstrong worth?
| Net Worth: | $40 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Cyclist |
| Date of Birth: | September 18, 1971 (age 51) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 9 in (1.77 m) |
About Lance Armstrong
No story of an athlete ever went from a heroic tale to a sordid story like Lance Armstrong’s did. Nobody in the US ever cared about the Tour de France, but after Armstrong recovered from cancer and went on to win the Tour de France seven years in a row, he became an American hero. Armstrong was known as the greatest competitive cyclist of all time, scored dozens of sponsorship deals, and made millions of dollars in prize money over his career. But in 2013, he was accused of cheating by taking performance enhancing drugs and many of his titles were stripped from him, financially leaving him with only his lucrative investment in Uber.
Armstrong had many wins under his belt before he was truly world famous, but in 1996 when he announced he had cancer was when the cyclist became known as well as the likes of globally famous basketball players and football players. As the cancer got stronger and the tumors started to move to his brain, Armstrong only had a 40% chance of survival, even having to undergo brain surgery. However, after a year of chemotherapy, Armstrong beat the cancer and he became a national treasure, getting straight back on the horse (or the bike), immediately winning competitions and drawing much more attention to competitive cycling than it ever had before.
After he beat cancer Armstrong founded LiveStrong, a charitable foundation which raised $500 million by 2012, according to Forbes. Today that number is estimated to be over $700 million for cancer research.
Armstrong signed a special deal with Nike, who designed a yellow gel wristband with the word LiveStrong’ scrawled across it. Millions of people across the world helped raise awareness for cancer by wearing them, with an incredible 80 million units reportedly sold.
Though he won dozens of competitions after beating cancer, Armstrong is most famous for coming first in the Tour de France seven years in a row. The Tour de France is the most prestigious and difficult cycling race in the world that spans 23 days. Though Armstrong spent much of his time in retirement refuting claims of any wrongdoing, he finally admitted that he had been taking performance enhancing drugs. Armstrong mostly used EPO, a performance enhancing drug he started using after he recovered from testicular cancer, and after he admitted this in a two-hour long interview with Oprah Winfrey, he was stripped of seven of his Tour de France titles and was banned from competitive cycling for life.
On top of his cycling career, Armstrong is also known for his cameos in the cult classic movies Dodgeball and You, Me, and Dupree, and he is the primary subject of two documentaries released in the aftermath of the doping scandal, The Armstrong Lie and Stop at Nothing – The Lance Armstrong Story. In 2015, The Program, a biopic of Armstrong’s cycling career, was released starring Ben Foster, Chris O’Dowd, and Dustin Hoffman.
In his peak, Armstrong was making an estimated $20 million per year from endorsements and sponsorships. And though his charitable foundation LiveStrong didn’t directly benefit him financially, as it’s a non-profit foundation, it massively broadened Armstrong’s brand and enhanced his marketability, helping him get other jobs. From this he was hired for spokesman duties for several companies. After the success of LiveStrong, Armstrong had a star factor that was unrivaled in cycling and even more famous athletes struggled to keep up with him.
Though he made most of the money after he recovered from cancer, Armstrong has famously lost an estimated $75 million due to the scandal. Having to return not just medals, but prize money too. He was also sued by many of his previous sponsors, lost his deal with Nike, and was dropped from his own foundation, LiveStrong.
Shrewdly, Armstrong was one of the early investors of the phone app, Uber, investing $100,000 through venture capitalist Chris Sacca in 2009 when the company was valued at only $3.7 million. The app has been valued as high as $91 billion. Armstong’s investment is now currently valued at $30-50 million dollars. If it wasn’t for this investment, the athlete wouldn’t have half as much money as he does now, as the $30 million is the majority of Armstrong’s current net worth. The athlete has claimed that his investment in Uber saved his family.
Lance Armstrong wealth may have peaked at $125 million in the 2010s.
Everybody loves a dramatic story, which is what helped Armstrong get support from around the world. Though it was devastating at the time, Armstrong’s trouble with cancer is what awarded him so many fans and what opened up doors with dozens of endorsement deals behind them. Armstrong was literally on death’s door, and after beating cancer, people wanted to back him because he embodied hope, and with his charisma he was somebody who people could stand behind.
Though his cycling legacy has been completely tarnished due to his use of performance enhancing drugs, it could be argued that he is still the greatest cyclist of all time. There are also claims that other competitors were also taking the same drugs. His endurance, working ethic, and striving to be the best is also what helped him beat out everyone else in the world’s hardest cycling route for seven consecutive years. Though he was doping apparently many more were too. If that is true it was still somewhat of a level playing field. Although it is clearly unfair on those who took to the challenge with honesty and it is true that Lance Armstrong was cheating.
When it was revealed that Armstrong had lied to the whole of America after the doping scandal, it seemed like it was all over for the cyclist. And while some want to chalk it up to luck, Armstrong took the risk of investing in Uber when it was valued at just $3.7 million dollars. It was actually his smarts that guided him, as Armstrong has a long history of making great business decisions. The rest is history as the returns on investment were astronomical.
Summing-Up
Though Armstrong once had an estimated net worth as high as $125 million earned from his success in competitive cycling, winning prize money and scoring top level endorsements. His net worth has dropped significantly since the scandal. As of 2023, Lance Armstrong’s net worth is estimated to be $40 million earned primarily through a very savvy business investment in Uber.
Even though Armstrong has been given a life ban in competing in cycling competitions, he is undoubtedly tied to the sport, just like Tony Hawk is to skateboarding. Armstrong is more famous than any other cyclist, and he will always be remembered for winning the Tour de France seven times in a row.
