Roger Federer spent years building a fortune that eventually carried him into the billionaire club, but one particularly brutal day on the stock market briefly pushed him back out. The former tennis champion saw the estimated value of his wealth fall below $1 billion after shares in Swiss sportswear company On Holding suffered a dramatic decline. According to Digi24’s original report, the investment that had helped make Federer a billionaire was suddenly responsible for wiping tens of millions of dollars from his estimated fortune.
The decline came on August 11, when On released its second-quarter results and investors reacted sharply to sales coming in below market expectations. Forbes estimated that Federer’s net worth fell to $952.4 million during trading that day, a decline of at least $52 million. On shares ultimately closed at $30.91, down 20.3% from the previous session’s close of $38.78.
The investment that transformed Federer’s fortune
Federer’s relationship with On is far more significant than a conventional sponsorship agreement. He joined the Swiss company in 2019 as an investor and co-entrepreneur, years before his retirement from professional tennis, and became closely involved in its products and brand development. According to On’s own account of the partnership, Federer became a “close partner to our founders and the On team.”
The investment proved enormously valuable when On went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021. Forbes estimated in August that Federer owned roughly 2.5% of the business, while its billionaire profile earlier in 2026 put the stake at approximately 3%. The value of that holding, combined with decades of lucrative sponsorship deals and career earnings, helped lift Federer’s estimated fortune to $1.1 billion before the sharp decline.
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It is worth correcting one detail from the Digi24 report. The Romanian article gives figures for hundreds of millions of Class A and Class B shares in connection with Federer’s personal holding, but those numbers should not be interpreted as the number of shares directly owned by Federer. Forbes’ reporting is based instead on an estimated percentage stake in On, and the exact composition of the former player’s personal holding has not been publicly detailed to the same degree.
Strong results were not enough for investors
The market reaction may appear surprising because On was hardly reporting a disastrous quarter. According to the company’s official second-quarter results, net sales increased 13.5% year on year to CHF 850.3 million, while growth reached 21.6% when measured at constant currencies. Net income climbed to CHF 105 million, compared with a loss of CHF 40.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
The problem was that investors had expected more from a company whose valuation had been built around rapid growth. Sales fell short of analysts’ expectations cited by Forbes, and the market responded aggressively despite On also reporting a gross profit margin of 65.4%. The company subsequently raised its full-year gross-margin forecast to at least 65% and maintained expectations for strong constant-currency sales growth.
The sell-off therefore illustrated how quickly paper wealth tied to publicly traded shares can disappear. Federer did not lose $52 million in cash from a bank account, nor did he sell the investment at the lower price. Instead, Forbes’ estimate of his net worth fell as the market value of his On stake declined.
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The pressure has continued since the original report
The August collapse was not followed by a full recovery. On shares closed at $27.15 on September 16, meaning the stock was trading even lower than its $30.91 closing price on the day Federer initially slipped below Forbes’ billionaire threshold. The shares had been worth $38.78 immediately before the second-quarter results triggered the sell-off.
That does not make it possible to calculate Federer’s current net worth simply by looking at On’s share price. His fortune also includes other investments, assets, income and major commercial agreements, and Forbes’ billionaire figures are estimates rather than audited declarations of personal wealth. Still, the continuing weakness in On shares shows why Federer’s billionaire status became so closely tied to the performance of the company.
His biggest earnings came away from the court
Federer retired from professional tennis in September 2022 after a career that produced 20 Grand Slam singles titles and more than $130 million in official prize money. That figure, however, represents only a relatively small part of the commercial empire he built during more than two decades at the top of the sport. Forbes estimates that Federer generated around $1.1 billion in pretax earnings during his playing career, with sponsorships accounting for the overwhelming majority.
One of his most valuable agreements came with Uniqlo, which signed Federer to a reported ten-year, $300 million contract in 2018 after his long association with Nike ended. Rolex, Mercedes-Benz and several other major brands also remained connected with him well beyond his final professional match. Yet it was the equity investment in On, rather than another conventional endorsement deal, that played the decisive role in eventually making him a billionaire on paper.
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The events of August demonstrated the other side of that strategy. Owning part of a rapidly growing company offered Federer an upside that a standard sponsorship agreement could never provide, but it also tied a significant portion of his estimated fortune to movements on the stock market. In a single trading session, the investment that helped carry him into the billionaire club also showed how quickly that status could disappear.
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