Virat Kohli has joined LinkedIn, and his first post was about business, not cricket. The 37-year-old made his debut on October 13 with a long post titled “The Vision Is Clear.”
He wrote about an India where every sport is followed and played, and where homegrown brands compete globally. “Today, that vision feels closer than ever,” he wrote. He described an end-to-end sports platform built in India, covering manufacturing, consumer brands and distribution. He signed off with “That’s the journey we’re on.”
The audience arrived quickly. His profile had 1,501 followers at 12.15 pm UAE time on October 13. A day later, it stood at 242,083. The post itself drew more than 47,500 likes and 1,750 comments.
He reportedly became the platform’s second-most-followed cricketer within eight hours, behind Sachin Tendulkar, who has around 905,000 followers. Tendulkar has long kept a verified profile, but uses it mostly for professional and social-impact updates. Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni do not appear to have verified, active profiles.
Why LinkedIn now?
Kohli has over 270 million followers on Instagram and close to 75 million on X, where most of his collaborations are posted. However, Kohli used LinkedIn to speak directly about entrepreneurship, investment and business of sport.
His profile lists him as a professional athlete with the Indian cricket team, co-founder of one8world and investor at Agilitas. According to Business Standard, he has put Rs 40 crore into the Bengaluru-based sportswear firm for a 1.94 per cent stake.
Kohli, who has the most centuries in ODI cricket, has turned down a lucrative Rs 300 crore deal with Puma spread over eight years. Instead, he chose to invest Rs 40 crore of his own wealth in Agilitas Sports and moving the one8 brand into a business in which he hold equity.
A multifaceted business Agilitas was founded in 2023 by former Puma India and Southeast Asia Managing Director Abhishek Ganguly, along with Atul Bajaj and Amit Prabhu.