Four-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka and four-time NBA champion Lebron James are teaming up to launch a media company.
The partnership between the two will aim to tell stories that cross all cultural barriers, the former world number one announced on Tuesday.
Lebron James and Naomi Osaka have decided to term their new alliance “Hana Kuma”, which translates to “flower bear,” and according to The Hollywood Reporter already have multiple projects lined up with stories that are “culturally specific but universal to all audiences.”
“What excites me is being able to inspire people and tell new stories, particularly ones that I would have wanted to see when I was a kid. I always wanted to kind of see someone like me,” four-times Grand Slam champion Osaka, who has a Haitian father and Japanese mother, told the New York Times.
Lebron owns The SpringHill Company with Maverick Carter which will serve as financing, operations, and producing partner for Hana Kuma.
The production company is the latest project from Osaka and her long-time agent, Stuart Duguid as she begins to diversify her portfolio outside of the tennis circles, following the leads of athletes like Lebron who recently joined the billionaires club.
Osaka recently launched her own sports agency Evolve, which nabbed its first client Nick Kyrgios on Monday.
