Shaquille O’Neal narrates how a popular controversial conspiracy theory reportedly led him to lose a $20 million deal.
Shaq is supposedly worth $500 million per celebrity net worth, as the former NBA player and businessman is said to have a track record of hitting gold in business.
One can also look to his success in the investment world. He invested in Google and unintentionally struck gold.
It was by “accident” that he even invested in the tech company.
According to a story published by Afrotech, Shaquille spoke with a prominent investor who was talking about Google at the Four Seasons.
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The conversation led to a meeting, which allowed him to make a more informed decision and invest in the company.
Shaq also struck gold as an investor in Ring, a smart doorbell company founded by Jamie Siminoff.
Shaquille reportedly invested $1 million and received equity compensation in exchange for promoting the Ring camera, according to MoneyWise.
The ring was later acquired by Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos when it was valued at $1 billion, Business Insider notes.
While these are just a snapshot of O’Neal’s moves, he did miss out on one opportunity that could have been a good business deal.
The Reason
While he does not specify the name of the company, he mentioned during a podcast interview on Complex’s “GOAT Talk” alongside his son Myles that a $20 million deal slipped through his portfolio due to a controversial take about Earth.
“I said the earth was flat one time, and I lost a f-king big deal on that because the haters; it was like 500,000 hate mail,” he said on the podcast.
“They said, ‘Man, we can’t.’ Big deal, like $20 million. I’m not going to elaborate on it, but when I was young, I studied the JFK assassination. I went to the Book Depository in Dallas. I’ve studied it. I’m not going to give you my theory on what I think happened because it’s a really serious topic. But the fact that there’s more than 50 different theories just makes it an even bigger conspiracy theory.”
Some of his wise moves include his Big Chicken restaurant franchise and his investment in two Carnival Cruise ships.
