Michael Jordan told he would better Cristiano Ronaldo's insane side hustle that earned him $148,000,000 last year if one thing changed

Michael Jordan has been told he would better Cristiano Ronaldo if the 1990s era featured a major change.

Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo is arguably the most marketable athlete in the world at present, with a global appeal that is almost unmatched.

On Instagram, Ronaldo has a whopping 647 million followers - making him the most-followed person on the platform - as well as 72.9 million subscribers on his YouTube channel.

Social media was not around when six-time NBA champion Jordan was in his pomp with the Chicago Bulls and he does not have any official accounts at present.

But had social media been a thing in his legendary era, with his incredible popularity, former teammate Scottie Pippen believes he would have eclipsed Ronaldo's following.

"I think he would have probably doubled that, I’m gonna be honest..." Pippen said on the PBD Podcast when host Patrick Bet-David asked him what Jordan's social media numbers would have been like.

“So the game was growing then. And, you know, at that point, me, Michael was four or five years already into the game.”

Jordan was the original face of Nike and according to ESPN, a study from Warner Brothers in 1996 found he was one of the most famous people on the planet along with Princess Diana and the Pope.

Michael Jordan's popularity in the 1990's was incredible. Image: Getty

On Instagram, Ronaldo is believed to earn $3.23 million per sponsored post - more than any other celebrity.

Last year, the former Real Madrid and Manchester United superstar posted 46 'sponsored' posts - either a paid partnership or promoting a brand or product - with Binance, VisitMadeira, CR7 Fragrances, Saudi Arabia's 2034 World Cup bid, UFL, Herbalife and Whoop just some of the ventures to get exposure.

Many years ago, one firm were able to get 30-40 posts on Ronaldo's channels for a fee of £250,000 in what was hailed as an "unbelievable deal".

Jordan has had his say on social media

Despite it having potential to be a vehicle that drove even more money into Jordan's bank account, His Airness has gone on record to say that he would not have enjoyed playing in a time where social media use is rife.

He told Cigar Aficionado: "For someone like myself and this is what Tiger [Woods] deals with, is that I don’t know if I could’ve survived in this Twitter time, where you don’t have the privacy that you would want, and what seems to be very innocent can always be misinterpreted."