--- description: LeBron James has transcended NBA professional to become a global powerhouse. title: Nike, Apple, and Coke: LeBron James is a Global Brand image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0866b183064da9bf/69869e1b1eebf7cf463721be/1280.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Nike, Apple, and Coke: LeBron James is a Global Brand by [Salima Koroma](/author/salima-koroma/) ## Salima Koroma Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 1, 2014 4:21 PM CUT  by [Salima Koroma](/author/salima-koroma/) ## Salima Koroma Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 1, 2014 4:21 PM CUT From the very outset of his career, LeBron James has sought to be more than one of the world’s best basketball players — he has tried to be a global icon and a billionaire athlete. He hasn’t yet achieved the latter, but there can be no doubt that LeBron James is a global brand. This is how LeBron James the athlete partnered with a number of prominent companies like Nike, Apple, and Coca-Cola to earn cred as LeBron James, The Businessman. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3070696/lebron-james-brand/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3070696/lebron-james-brand/"},"headline":"Nike, Apple, and Coke: LeBron James is a Global Brand","datePublished":"2014-08-01T16:21:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:27:56.238Z","description":"LeBron James has transcended NBA professional to become a global powerhouse","url":"https://time.com/3070696/lebron-james-brand/","keywords":["Sports topic","NBA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0866b183064da9bf/69869e1b1eebf7cf463721be/1280.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Salima Koroma","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0866b183064da9bf/69869e1b1eebf7cf463721be/1280.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"1280","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3070696/lebron-james-brand/","name":"Nike, Apple, and Coke: LeBron James is a Global Brand"}}]}] ```