Your Annuity Might Be Backed by LeBron’s Nike Deal: Inside the $245 Million Two Retirement Insurers Are Betting on the King
Your fixed annuity and LeBron James share a balance sheet, and the tax consequences of that arrangement fall entirely on you. Here is what the insurers funding his Nike deal are not telling their policyholders.
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Somewhere in the general accounts of two Midwestern life insurers sits roughly $245 million in bonds backed by LeBron James’s Nike deal.
According to Bloomberg, an LLC named King James Funding borrowed almost $300 million in 2018 from North American Company for Life and Health Insurance and Midland National Life Insurance Co., with bonds due in 2049 at a 4.8% coupon. A follow-on $60 million in 34-year bonds priced at 5.75% in August 2022. Guggenheim Partners arranged the deal, and the pledged revenue stream includes James’s lifetime Nike sponsorship.
Why This Sits Next to Grandma’s Fixed Annuity
Insurers sell you a fixed or indexed annuity and promise a payout for years, sometimes decades. To fund that promise, they buy long-duration assets that earn more than the guaranteed rate. That used to mean corporate bonds and Treasuries. Increasingly it means private credit, asset-backed finance, and one-off deals like the King James bonds.
Jackson Financial (NYSE:JXN | JXN Price Prediction), one of the largest US retail annuity issuers, sold $5.90 billion in retail annuities last quarter, up 34% year over year, with record $2.30 billion in RILA sales. Its asset arm PPM America now manages more than $100 billion, and a partnership with TPG explicitly targets higher-yielding private assets to back spread products.
Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) owns Athene, which took in $22 billion of retirement inflows in Q2 2026 and posted record $877 million in spread-related earnings. Apollo originated $74 billion in assets during the quarter and calls asset-backed finance and structured settlements a core competency. Athene’s fixed income book is 98% investment grade, and its alternative sleeve targets an 11% long-term return. Both firms exemplify the model that produced those bonds, though neither has been disclosed as a party to the LeBron deal.
What This Means for Your Annuity Tax Bill
A non-qualified annuity, the kind you buy with after-tax money outside a 401(k) or IRA, comes with a specific tax bargain. Growth is tax-deferred inside the contract. When money comes out, the earnings portion is taxed as ordinary income, not long-term capital gains, at rates that in tax year 2026 top out at 37%.
Three trap doors matter:
- The 10% early-distribution penalty. Pull earnings before age 59½ and the IRS tacks 10% onto your ordinary-income tax. Same rule as an IRA.
- No step-up in basis at death. Heirs owe income tax on the deferred gain in a non-qualified annuity. A brokerage account gets stepped up to date-of-death value. An annuity does not.
- Ordinary income on the way out. The same S&P exposure held in a taxable brokerage account could qualify for 0%, 15%, or 20% long-term capital gains rates. Inside an annuity, that gain converts to ordinary income at withdrawal.
Rich Clients’ Favorite Move: 1035 Exchanges
Section 1035 of the tax code lets you swap one annuity for another without triggering tax, provided the owner and annuitant stay the same. It is how holders escape old high-fee contracts, roll into a RILA with better terms, or consolidate two annuities into one. Basis and the clock carry over. Boring paperwork, real savings.
The Nike-backed bonds are legitimate financial engineering that ordinary savers cannot access. The insurer holding those bonds is likely also holding your neighbor’s fixed index annuity. Same balance sheet, very different tax outcomes for who owns what.
Two Numbers Worth Watching
Jackson trades at $131.63, up 25.59% year to date and 39.34% over one year. Apollo trades at $133.18, down 6.78% year to date after absorbing a $1.7 billion one-time charge tied to its ACRA Bermuda tax-election revocation in Q1 2026.
Withdrawal timing, Roth conversion sequencing, and the 1035 escape hatch are the kind of math worth running with a fiduciary advisor or CPA before signing an annuity contract or drawing one down (the annuity tax traps above are a few of nine IRS rules we mapped in a free retiree tax trap guide).
Data Sources
- LeBron James Borrowed $300 Million From Insurers Arranged by Guggenheim (Bloomberg): loan structure, insurer identities, coupons, and Nike-linked collateral.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not tax, legal, or investment advice. Consult a qualified tax professional about your specific situation.
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