Marketing Sugarpova

Tennis champ Maria Sharapova is building a second career, not in sports but as an entrepreneur. Her first product is Sugarpova, colorful, sugary gummy bears. This is premium candy, priced well above supermarket levels and marketed with the champ's worldwide celebrity power.

Sharapova is a high-profile spokeswoman for Nike, Samsung Electronics, and other big-name brands--and she earns about $28 million per year from these endorsements. She's also designed clothing and shoes.

But Sugarpova is her entrepreneurial debut, and Sharapova's $500,000 investment could earn her a sweet return. Earlier this month, she appeared in Australia to launch the candy down under before the start of the Australian Open.

However, the tennis star is also being criticized for promoting unhealthy snacks.

Whether you agree or disagree, you can follow her on Facebook (where she has nearly 9.5 million likes) and Twitter (where in her first 2 weeks she attracted 98,000 followers).