American former professional snowboarder and skateboarder Shaun White is known as one of the greatest snowboarders in history who has amassed a net worth of $65 million. The dual-sport professional athlete has had a legendary run in snowboarding and skateboarding, retiring as 3-time Olympic gold medalist. He has catapulted the world of sports into a pop culture. With his laid back personality, Shaun White is best known for his success as a professional snowboarder. He is by far the richest snowboarder in the world but his wealth did not only came from his stint in sports, he’s had numerous business ventures as well.

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Early Life as A Prodigy

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Shaun White was born on September 3, 1986 in San Diego, California to parents Roger and Cathy. When he was born his mother worked as a waitress while his father worked for the water department of San Clemente, California. He is the youngest in the brood of four children. Shaun White was born with a congenital heart defect resulting with him undergoing two heart surgeries before he even turned one. Despite these conditions, he has become involved in the snowboarding sports at a very young age which led him to success. During his early childhood years, they were travelling to the mountains of the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California together with his family. The White family would just stay in a van while parked at the resort’s parking lot.

Succeeding in his Athletic Career

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Despite his heart conditions, he has become active in the snowboarding sports. He was only 13 when he turned pro in snowboarding and is being lauded the new snowboard prodigy. He was turning heads on the skateboard scene including professional skateboarder Tony Hawk who later on scouted him when he was just nine years old. He was scouted by Tony Hawk while he was at a local skatepark and Hawk mentored him until he became what he is today. To this day, Hawk remains White’s hero. In 2003, he became the first ever athlete to compete and win in both the Winter and Summer games in two different sports.

At a young age, White has won numerous titles on skateboarding including the overall title for the Action Sports Tour Champion. He is also the first snowboarder to land back to back double corks at the Red Bull SuperPipe. To this day, he remains the only skater to be land frontside heelflip 540 body varial. He switched from skateboarding to snowboarding. He was only seven when he first received his first sponsorship which helped him hone his talent. He has participated in total of five Winter Olympics in his entire career. He won the gold medal for the snowboard halfpipe event.

Business And Media Ventures

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During the time that he was not competing, White has tried acting and has made cameo on films. He first appeared as himself on the movie Friends with Benefits in 2011 and on the Da Flippity Flop episode of the animated TV series American Dad. Other than doing cameos on different films, he also starred in several documentaries about his life including The White Album and the 2005 snowboarding documentary, First Descent. While he was trying to venture into the media, he also tried putting up business as entrepreneur.

White has launched his first video game franchise after appearing in numerous other video games. It was in 2008 that he released his own video game called Shaun White Snowboarding which was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and was published by Ubisoft. Upon its success, they decided to release a sequel to it Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage which was released the following year. Another skateboarding game was released in 2010 with the title Shaun White Skateboarding.

He also purchased a minority stake in the Mammoth Resorts in 2016 and is now the part owner of the Snow Summit, June Mountain, Mammoth Mountain and Bear ski areas. He helmed the Air + Style festival of music and snowboarding starting 2014. He took the ownership of the festival and moved it to Los Angeles from Austria. Although he has been widely successful and is set for life already, he launched yet another venture, an active lifestyle brand called Whitespace last January 2022. The company plans to release line of snowboard hard-goods, athletic equipment, outerwear and streetwear apparel. Though White has had luck in his chosen sports and already made millions from his endorsements, he still made sure to make the best out of it by going into numerous business ventures which are all well received so far.

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Sources: Entrepreneur, Leading Authorities, Apps Crip, Celebrity Net Worth

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