Fao Schwartz Toy Store

Extending her reach beyond the court

When Maria Sharapova was 13, training on scholarship at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, a reporter asked her if she had the chance to win Wimbledon or make $20 million in endorsements, which would she choose? She said, without hesitation, "I would choose to win Wimbledon, because then the millions will come."

One does not become the highest paid female athlete in the world without recognizing that the greatest potential for earnings comes not from winning championships, but from endorsement deals, particularly with fashion and sportswear brands.

Ms. Sharapova, now 24 years old and the sixth ranked women's singles player, made $24.5 million from June 2009 to June 2010, according to Forbes, about $4 million more than her nearest competitor, Serena Williams.

Last year, she renewed her contract with Nike in an expanded eight-year deal that is estimated to be worth as much as $70 million, the most ever for a female athlete, including royalties from clothes she designs for Nike. She also designs shoes and handbags for Cole Haan and endorses luxury brands like Tiffany and Tag Heuer, and the electronics company Sony Ericsson.

Extending her reach into the unexpected, she is about to announce a new partnership with Jeff Rubin, the man who helped create Dylan's Candy Bar in 2001 and a chain of candy shops inside F. A. O. Schwarz toy stores (called F. A. O. Schweetz) in the 1990s, to develop her own brand of candy and sweets. Gumballs will be shaped like tennis balls, and gummy candies will be packaged in containers shaped like tennis-ball cans. The name of her brand? Sugarpova.

Despite recent progress in her professional comeback after a shoulder operation in 2008 - on June 2 she played in the semi-final of the French Open, where she lost to Li Na - Ms. Sharapova is laying the groundwork for what her life will be like after tennis.

It is her competitiveness off the court that has made for a more riveting match in recent years, as Ms. Sharapova fights for turf among those athletes who aspire to become brands.

"I've been very competitive by nature from a young age, whether it was eating a bowl of pasta faster than somebody else, or always wanting to be the first one in line," she said. In her own words, she now has "money that will feed my great-grandchildren." (Ms. Sharapova said she is looking forward to starting a family with her fiancé, Sasha Vujacic of the New Jersey Nets basketball team.

FAO Schwarz Might Have to Pack Up Its Toys and Go - Toy Story ...

Iconic toy store FAO Schwarz sits on some incredibly desirable real estate, sharing a plaza with the Apple flagship on 58th and Fifth just across the street from Central Park. So it's perhaps not a huge surprise that their landlords, Boston Properties, don't seem wildly enthusiastic about extending their lease on the space.

Back in 2008, right after Boston Properties bought the building, the company president said that FAO “will probably not be the most economically viable potential tenant we have for that space over time." FAO's lease is set to expire next year, and according to Crain's sources, the store and its landlords are in arbitration over the rent. We can't imagine that corner of the park without FAO Schwarz, but given how expensive Fifth Avenue has gotten over the past few years, it's possible that the giant piano will be playing the blues before long.

New York Magazine

The African American entrepreneur, then and now

International directory of company histories

Computerworld

Kaplan PMBR FINALS: Torts, Core Concepts and Key Questions