Dennis Rodman’s possible ‘$1 billion company’ that failed despite North Korean ties

Dennis Rodman started a vodka company that could’ve made a billion but was not sustainable due to his image. 

Dennis Rodman put the ‘Bad in ‘Bad Boy’ when it came to the Detroit Pistons. Him alongside the likes of Bill Laimbeer, John Salley, Isiah Thomas, and Joe Dumars made for a squad that simply could not be trifled with. These Pistons overcame the Larry Bird-led Boston Celtics to eventually take control of the Eastern Conference in 1989 and 1990. 

At the helm of the defensive side of things and rebounding for the Pistons was none other than ‘The Worm’. Over the course of an illustrious career with franchises like the Pistons, Bulls, Lakers, and Mavericks, Rodman managed to accumulate $27 million, with a third of it coming from the 1996-97 season in Chicago. 

While $27 million is quite a bit of money, it isn’t anything close to what players of his caliber earn nowadays. Aside from him not earning what he was worth during his playing days, Dennis Rodman also went through a bevy of financial troubles in his heyday. 

Everything from being scammed by a woman who he put in charge of his finances to getting in trouble with the law constantly and being fined by the NBA, Rodman hasn’t had the best luck when it comes to money.

Also read: Dennis Rodman, who was offered $20 million to get Madonna pregnant, benefitted massively from the relationship, per Salley

Dennis Rodman and his vodka company. 

With a reported $500,000 net worth, Dennis Rodman has tried a couple ways of increasing it over the years. An idea that actually would’ve worked was associating him with alcohol. That is exactly what he did as he decided to start his own affordable vodka company called ‘Bad Boy’ vodka that was priced at a reasonable $20. 

The marketing for the product was 3-pronged: 1.) Rodman had already curated a ‘bad boy’ image of himself over the decades and so associating him with alcohol, just felt right 2.) it was priced at quite the affordable rate, generating even more buzz 3.) his relations with North Korea were so staggering that it always kept his name in the news cycle. 

Dennis even did pop-up events at local liquor marts to promote his newest endeavor. Stores were selling out of the product and it felt as though the venture could one day be worth over $1 billion. 

Unfortunately for the 5x NBA champ, it all went away pretty quick when he was admitted into rehab 6 months into the launch, painting a rather unflattering image of his alcohol company.

Also read: Dennis Rodman amassed $27 million in NBA career earnings but was left homeless by his mother at age 17