Kobe成全球品牌

Kobe Bryant is preparing for his move after basketball. The superstar will be retiring at the end of the current NBA season, and is planning for his life after retirement -- which means grand plans to grow his brand into a global empire.

Kobe Bryant is, without a doubt, the biggest NBA superstar on the planet and after 20 years as a Los Angeles Laker, he'll retire on April 13. Rabid fans are flying in from all over the world to catch one of his final games.

"What he's done for basketball just makes him great, and I think he'll be great forever even if he's retiring."

Why do you love Kobe
"He's very handsome!  Very handsome yeah!"

May: "Kobe Bryant, sugoi desu neh "

Fan:  "Sugoi!!! Yokata, lucky!"

Kobe's list of achievements is staggering. Five NBA championships, 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team and two time Olympic gold medalist, just to name a few.

"He defines an era. He just kind of took the torch from Michael Jordan and kept it going. Won 5 championships, few players have been able to accomplish anything near what he's been able to do," Ryan Ward with Examiner.com said.

Throughout his career, Kobe has constantly been compared to basketball legend Michael Jordan, but when it comes to expanding his powerful brand, Kobe is blazing a new trail.

"There have been estimates that he's made over $600 million total whether it's on the court contracts or sponsorships, so I think when you look at that ability and you extrapolate that out to what he could do for his own brand where he has control or more control than he had before, I think the sky is almost the limit," Courtney Brunious with USC Marshall School of Business said.

Kobe Bryant's well-known brand goes way beyond the basketball courts here in the U.S. and into countries across the globe. In China, Kobe is the most popular NBA player by far, so it should come as no surprise that his post retirement plans include growing the Kobe brand in China.

Chinese fan saying "Kobe Bryant, Kobe Bryant"

Kobe has already formed partnerships in China. E-commerce giant Alibaba will work with Bryant's three-year-old company, Kobe Inc., to create branded products and new social media platforms.

China is just part of Kobe's grand plan. He's made a number of business investments from sports drinks to digital media platforms. And he plans to pursue his passion for story telling through movies, books and other media by way of newly formed "Kobe Studios."

This 37-year-old soon-to-be-retired NBA star is no where near slowing down

"It never ends. You just keep growing and growing and growing and growing. And that's what's at the heart of my drive.