These top athletes are investing in corn instead of crypto

[ad_1]

By Weston Blasi

Joe Burrow, Blake Griffin and other top professional athletes bought a corn and soybean farm in Iowa

Over the past two years, companies operating in the nascent cryptocurrency space, such as Coinbase (COIN), Block (n Square) (SQ), and the now bankrupt FTX, have signed sponsorship deals with a number of top athletes, usually paying them. in shares of the company, or in crypto itself.

It didn’t work out well for some of those athletes, including future NFL Hall of Famer Tom Brady. Now, a bunch of sports luminaries are pouring their money into something a little less flashy.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Boston Celtics forward Blake Griffin, Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton, New York Islanders forward Anders Lee and Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman make part of the professional athletes who recently purchased a 104-acre corn and soybean in Iowa.

See also: Usain Bolt is missing millions from his investment portfolio, says his manager

The acquisition was made through investment vehicle Patricof Co. The plan is to lease the land to farmers, hoping for a single-digit annual return – with a total of 24 athletes forming part of the purchase, according to FrontOfficeSports.

Patricof Co. did not reveal how much it spent on the farm, but said it would buy more farms as investments for athletes.

“The $5 million was the first capital call in what will be a capital pool to acquire multiple farms,” ​​according to Peter Drummond of BerlinRosen, a firm that handles public relations and communications for Patricof.

See also: Athletes like Tom Brady and Odell Beckham have taken crypto as compensation. From now on it backfires on you

“We made three investments last year after making six the previous year,” Patricof Co. founder Mark Patricof said. “The market has changed. The world has changed. Prices didn’t necessarily go down, but valuations should have, so we held back. It was a good time in the cycle to invest in this asset class. .”

In addition to being world-class competitors in their primary fields, athletes are increasingly successful in business. MarketWatch chronicled how athletes like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Serena Williams inflated their athletic fortunes through their multimillion-dollar business listings.

-Weston Blasi

(END) Dow Jones Newswire

01-14-23 1114ET

Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

[ad_2]