Written by Rich Swerbinsky

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Advertising Age magazine recently did a story on LeBron and his three buddies that are now running the LBJ Empire. The column hits on their quest to make LeBron a "global icon" by 8/8/08, the day he gets over to Bejing for the Olympics. They talk about aligning LeBron with financial services companies, high end automobile makers, and making LeBron the first "billion dollar athlete". The link to the story, and some of my thoughts on the matter are enclosed within.

Four boyhood friends from Akron, Ohio.  Who are now on the verge of building an empire that industry insiders feel may top one billion dollars.

In this fascinating column from Advertising Age Magazine, we get a closer look at the three friends that are now running the LeBron James Empire.  After firing agent Aaron Goodwin, who brokered LeBron's 90 million dollar deal with Nike that he signed just before the NBA Draft Lottery, James turned the control of the day to day operations of his business dealings over to friends Maverick Carter, Randy Mims, and Rich Paul.  LeBron recieved alot of criticism in print and on television over this move, as many questioned the business acumen of such a move, especially for an athlete with so much earning power.

To this point, it appears to be working just fine for James, who has complete trust in the trio of friends he refers to as brothers.  They're always looking out for James best interest, and LeBron has much more control over the day to day dealings and decisions than he had with Goodwin.

Take a second to read the column, which I've linked above.  Some very interesting stuff.  From the group dropping their "Four Horsemen" moniker they grew up with, to their quest to transform LeBron into what they call a "global icon" by 8/8/08 ... the day LeBron heads over to Bejing to represent the United States of America in the Summer Olympics.  The group plans to align LeBron with high end financial services companies and pricy automobile makers, and even goes as far as to mention LeBron's desire to take foreign language classes at Akron to make himself more marketable overseas.

Amazing.