Maria Sharapova was already one of the biggest names in tennis when she decided to put her own money into a business. In 2012, the five time Grand Slam champion invested $500,000 to launch Sugarpova, a premium candy company built around her name, personality and love for sweets. The idea was to create something that could eventually become a business beyond her tennis career. For several years, the plan appeared to be working. Sugarpova expanded into dozens of countries, sold millions of bags and was projected to reach around $20 million in sales. But the company eventually stopped operating around 2021, after Sharapova had retired from tennis. Sharapova has since said that she got the company profitable after several years, even though she also admitted that she entered the business without understanding basic things such as a P&L or a long term marketing plan. She has also spoken about another technology investment that never took off. However, there is no reliable public record showing exactly how much money she personally lost from Sugarpova or that investment.




How did Maria Sharapova build Sugarpova?Sharapova launched Sugarpova in 2012 when she was still playing professional tennis. The starting point was relatively simple. She wanted to create a premium candy brand that could use her worldwide recognition but would also exist as a business of its own.




She invested $500,000 of her own money into the company. At the time, Sharapova was not coming into the candy industry with years of experience. She was a tennis player who was trying to learn a completely different business. Forbes later reported that she admitted she did not initially have a clear five or ten year vision for Sugarpova. In a more recent interview with Fast Company, she went even further, saying that when she started she did not know what a P&L was or what a strategic marketing plan involved.




That lack of experience did not stop the brand from getting attention.




Sugarpova’s products were designed around bright packaging, playful names and shapes, including candy inspired by lips. Sharapova’s name gave the company an advantage that a normal new candy startup would not have. She could promote the product to a global audience that already knew her from tennis.




The brand expanded quickly. By 2015, Sugarpova had sold more than five million bags of candy and was distributed in more than 30 countries, according to Traub, the company that later took responsibility for the brand’s operations. The business also expanded beyond its original gummy products and entered the premium chocolate market.




Sharapova was not simply putting her name on someone else’s product. Reports from the period described her as being involved in decisions about the brand and its products. She also worked with her team to find manufacturing and distribution partners as Sugarpova expanded.




The original $500,000 investment therefore turned into a much larger commercial operation. But the important point is that the $500,000 was an investment, not a confirmed loss.




How much money did Sugarpova make?The numbers surrounding Sugarpova need to be understood carefully because several different figures have been reported over the years.




In 2015, the company said it had sold more than five million bags and experienced 50% growth. By 2016, the brand was available through more than 20 global distributors and in more than 30 countries. Traub projected that Sugarpova could become a $20 million brand by 2018 after the launch of its chocolate line.




Another report from the period said Sugarpova’s sales were projected to reach $20 million in 2019. That was a projection of company sales, not a statement that Sharapova personally earned $20 million from the business.




In 2018, Forbes reported that Pat Kenny, managing director of Traub Consumer, believed the brand could be worth as much as $20 million by the end of that year. Again, a possible company valuation is very different from annual revenue and even further removed from an owner’s personal income.




The business also secured distribution opportunities that helped it reach more customers. In 2018, Sugarpova announced a deal with Hudson Group that put its products into hundreds of Hudson News locations, including airport stores. It also entered a global partnership with hospitality company sbe.




So, at its strongest point, Sugarpova was not a tiny celebrity side project. It had international distribution, millions of products sold and reported or projected sales in the millions of dollars.




There is another important detail that Sharapova revealed later. In her 2026 Fast Company interview, she said Sugarpova became profitable after several years. That means describing the entire company as a business that simply lost money would not be accurate.




Why did Sugarpova eventually shut down?Despite its early growth, Sugarpova eventually disappeared from the market.




Tennis.com reported that the company had ceased operating by 2021, around a year after Sharapova retired from professional tennis. Sharapova herself has also described Sugarpova as having shuttered in 2021 in her later interview with Fast Company.




The public record does not give a detailed financial explanation for the closure.




There is no reliable statement from Sharapova saying that Sugarpova lost a particular amount of money before it closed. There is also no public evidence that the company went through a bankruptcy proceeding. Trademark records do show that some later Sugarpova trademark applications were abandoned, including one application that was abandoned in February 2021 because a statement of use was not filed.




That is why it is more accurate to say that Sugarpova shut down or ceased operating rather than claiming that it suffered a specific financial loss.




Sharapova’s own explanation also gives some insight into the business journey. She said she eventually got Sugarpova profitable, but described the company as an “MBA on the job.” She learned about pricing, marketing, product quality, distribution and the challenges of scaling a product while keeping it premium.




There is also a timing factor. Sharapova retired from professional tennis in 2020 after a 19 year career. Sugarpova had originally been created partly as a business that could grow alongside and eventually beyond her tennis career. By the time the company stopped operating, Sharapova’s career had entered a completely different stage, with much of her focus moving toward startup investing.




However, the exact reason the candy company was closed has not been publicly explained in enough detail to identify one confirmed cause.




How much money did Maria Sharapova actually lose?This is the part of the story where it is important not to invent a number. Sharapova’s original investment in Sugarpova was $500,000. That figure is well documented. But there is no reliable public figure showing that she eventually lost $500,000, $1 million, or any other specific amount on the company.




In fact, the available information points in the opposite direction from a simple loss calculation. Sugarpova generated substantial sales, expanded internationally, and, according to Sharapova’s own later comments, became profitable after several years.




That means we cannot take the original $500,000 investment and automatically call it a loss.




The same problem exists with Sharapova’s failed technology investment.




Sharapova has spoken about an investment she made more than a decade ago after fellow tennis player Andy Roddick contacted her about a technology company. She described it as an app with a concept that, in her view, was similar to what Cameo later did successfully. She believed in the founder and invested what she described as “quite a bit” of money. The business never took off.




Sharapova has not publicly disclosed the exact amount she invested in that company. Because of that, it would be inaccurate to attach a dollar figure to her loss.




Her business record therefore has two different stories. Sugarpova was a real company that reached international markets, sold millions of products and eventually became profitable before shutting down around 2021. The technology investment was a more straightforward failure because Sharapova herself has said that the venture never took off.




The biggest confirmed figure is the $500,000 she invested to start Sugarpova. The biggest reported business figures include projected sales of around $20 million and a possible $20 million company valuation at one point.




That distinction matters. Sugarpova did not become a permanent business, but its entire history cannot accurately be reduced to “Sharapova lost $500,000.” She built a brand that reached more than 30 countries, sold millions of bags and eventually became profitable. At the same time, she made investments that did not work, including a technology deal she has openly acknowledged as a failure. Her own description of Sugarpova now is less about the money she lost and more about what she learned from building a company without having a traditional business background.