Does Michael Jordan own cologne company and what is it called?

NBA legend Michael Jordan is involved in a number of businesses both as an owner and as an investor. Most notably, Jordan has a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets. While Jordan has been heavily involved in the basketball side of things, it's not the only business he owns.

As it turns out, Michael Jordan has also been heavily involved in creating and launching his own line of fragrances. His 'Michael Jordan Perfumes & Colognes' include 12 different perfumes since 1997. Of those, five are for men, with the most recent being released in 2014.

According to the fragrance database Fragrantica, Steve De Mercado was 'The nose' for the fragrances. As per air-aroma.com, the role of a 'Nose' in a fragrance's creation process is similar to that of a painter in art. Essentially, they are trained over many years to become experts in the different smells from different ingredients.

The site also quotes a notable nose named Edmond Roudnitska, who spoke about his creative process and defined his job as:

“To create new arrangements, new olfactory forms, it is enough that you think in odours, like a painter thinks in colours, and a musician in sounds.”

Above, you can see a commercial for one of Jordan's colognes from the late 1990s!

Michael Jordan's other businesses

In addition to the Charlotte Hornets, what other businesses does Michael Jordan own? Recently, one of Jordan's most notable investments has been his involvement in the ownership of Cincoro tequila. The company is founded and owned by a group of five NBA owners, including Jordan and Jeanie Buss.

Their website tells the story of the brand's creation:

"One night, five NBA owners - Emilia Fazzalari and Wyc Grousbeck of the Celtics, Jeanie Buss of the Lakers, Michael Jordan of the Hornet, and Wes Edens of the Bucks met for dinner. That evening they bonded over their shared love for tequila. From there Cincoro was born."

Jordan has also recently been in the headlines thanks to his ownership of 23XI (twenty-three eleven) racing, a NASCAR team owned by the Hall of Famer. As the story goes, NASCAR star Denny Hamlin was golfing when an article surfaced that he and Jordan were in talks of buying a team.

NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen

He sent the article to Jordan knowing it was fake news, partly as a joke, and partly to gauge his interest in the idea. When he sent the article to MJ, the six-time champion laughed before saying that if Hamlin wanted to make the fake news real news, to let him know.

Hamlin spoke about their endeavors in an interview with Beyond The Flag, saying:

“I never thought we would start a team from scratch, and that’s essentially what we did, which really hasn’t been done in a really long time. We have nobody, where do we start? We don’t have a building, where do we start? It’s very, very difficult to come to this sport and be competitive anyway.”

After signing Bubba Wallace the team found success almost immediately with Bubba Wallace as its driver. The rest, as they say, is history.