Micky Arison

Net worth over time

Forbes estimates of Micky Arison's net worth each year, next to the Forbes value of the Miami Heat. From 2012 to now the net worth went from $4.7B to $11.8B, about 3 times as much. The figures are for the family, as Forbes lists them.

Yearly points are from the Forbes billionaires lists, mostly the spring World's Billionaires list; the last point is the latest Forbes real-time figure, which can differ a lot from the spring list. Years without a published figure are skipped.

The businesses in detail

How the main business makes money. Carnival sells cruise holidays under brands such as Carnival Cruise Line, Princess, Holland America, Cunard and Costa. It owns the ships and earns from ticket fares plus what passengers spend on board. Profit has recovered since the pandemic: a $74M loss in fiscal 2023 became $2.76B of net income in fiscal 2025. Debt fell from $27.4B to $24.6B in the nine months to 31 August 2026. Carnival restored a dividend of $0.15 a share per quarter in fiscal 2026.

Biggest deals.

• 1989: Carnival bought Holland America.
• 1997: Carnival took half of Costa, at first alongside Airtours.
• 1998-99: Carnival took control of Cunard, then full ownership.
• 2003: Carnival won P&O Princess after outbidding Royal Caribbean.
• 7 May 2026: Carnival merged its two share listings, left the London market and moved its incorporation from Panama to Bermuda.
• Fiscal 2026: Carnival paid $618M of dividends in nine months and had bought back about $1.2B of shares by 29 September.

Career path

1. 1954

   Moves from Israel to the United States as a child

2. 1972

   Leaves university to sell cruises for Carnival, his father's new one-ship company

3. 1979

   Becomes Carnival president, with three ships and about 50 staff

4. 1988

   Father Ted co-founds the Heat; Micky had argued against it

5. 1995

   Family buys out the Heat's managing partners in February; he takes charge and hires Pat Riley

6. 2005

   Starts three years as chairman of the NBA Board of Governors

7. 2006-13

   Heat win NBA titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013

8. 2013

   Steps down as Carnival chief executive after the Costa Concordia grounding and Carnival Triumph fire; stays chairman

9. 2025

   Inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame on 6 September

10. 2026

    Carnival restructures in May; he becomes NBA Board of Governors chairman in September

Teams and sports assets

Owns now 2

• teamMiami HeatNBA · Basketball · USSince 1988 · about 88% (Forbes, 2023); family co-founded in 1988, control since February 1995 · $32.5M expansion fee in 1988, shared with partners; $68M per Forbes ($60M per AP) to buy out two partners in 1995
• arenaKaseya Center operating rightsNBA · Basketball · USSince 1999 · operator through Basketball Properties Ltd.; arena owned by Miami-Dade County · Heat privately placed $165M of bonds to build it and pays the debt service

Other investments and assets

• Companies and funds: A filing for August 2026 shows 80.7M Carnival shares in a partnership and 13.4M in trusts. Forbes estimated $3.1B in cash and personal investments in 2023. Carnival sponsored the Heat's jersey patch for one season.
• Property: Wikipedia says he sold a Bal Harbour condo for $5.8M in January 2025 and uses two yachts as homes.
• Family in the business: Son Nick Arison has been the Heat's chief executive since 2011. Father Ted founded Carnival in 1972 and funded the Heat in 1988. Sister Shari Arison is a billionaire in Israel in her own right.

Giving and politics

• He gives through the Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation.
• He tried to give his whole $2.4M Carnival bonus to Indian Ocean tsunami relief anonymously. Disclosure rules made it public.
• He chaired the NBA Board of Governors for three years from October 2005 and was elected again in 2026.

How they run their teams

• He hires senior people and leaves them alone. Pat Riley arrived in 1995; Erik Spoelstra has coached since 2008.
• He attends nearly every home game courtside, while his son Nick runs the business side.
• The NBA fined him $500,000 in October 2011 for tweets to fans during the lockout.
• NBA owners unanimously elected him Board of Governors chairman in July 2026. He took over from Larry Tanenbaum in September 2026.
• Josh Kushner bought under 5% of the Heat in late 2024. The Arison family did not sell.

What they have said

• Sport is harsher than business: only one team wins each year, while rival businesses can all prosper.
• Hire the best people and do not micromanage them, or they will leave.
• When LeBron James left in 2014, he said he was shocked and disappointed, and told fans the Heat were not finished.
• He believes team owners should stay in the background and speak rarely.
• He tried to talk his father out of bringing an NBA team to Miami, because the family prized its privacy.

Little-known facts

• He once spent six months calling bingo and greeting guests on a cruise ship.
• Decades later he still worked at his father's Formica desk.
• Shaquille O'Neal sent a red rose to Arison's 90-year-old mother-in-law before every home game.
• Singer Julio Iglesias held 1% of the Heat in 1995.