Shaquille O’Neal, the former NBA superstar, has seen his fair share of investment. Still, one of his most notable financial decisions came through babysitting, something he didn’t expect. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, O’Neal explained how this chance meeting led to one of his most lucrative opportunities. However, not all his investments started off so auspiciously.
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O’Neal discussed his ventures and shared what he considers his “worst investment ever.” He had the opportunity to work with Starbucks when its CEO, Howard Schultz, proposed expanding into African American communities. O’Neal explained his initial skepticism: “So growing up, I had never seen black people drinking coffee. So I look at the owner of Starbucks and say, ‘It’s not going to work. Black people don’t drink coffee.'” This decision, he admits, was not well received, humorously noting, “So now, every time I go to Starbucks, I see black people drinking coffee, I’m like by…’
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Passing on Starbucks may have been a big mistake, but he still took early action at one of the most powerful tech companies ever. While at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles around 1993 or 1994, he babysat some children whose father was in a meeting. After the meeting, the father, impressed by Shaq’s relationship with his children, offered him an investment opportunity in a then little-known startup called Google. ‘You are good with children. I like you. I’m going to involve you in this investment,” the father said. Describing the future of Google, he envisioned a world where “you can type on your phone, into a search engine, do this, do this, boom, boom, boom. You should invest.”
Shaq followed the advice and the rest is history. “I have invested. And then, a few years later, I got a really big return,” he told DeGeneres. The exact amount Shaq invested in Google has never been disclosed.
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In Zack O’Malley Greenburg’s book, “A-List Angels: How a Band of Actors, Artists and Athletes Hacked Silicon Valley,” Shaq reflects on his successful investment in Google. He explains how he got this opportunity, simply by being in the right place at the right time and coming into contact with the right people. Despite the success, O’Neal expressed one major regret: “My only regret is that I wish I had bought more.”
With a massive net worth of $500 million, his career is legendary. “I always wanted to be an entrepreneur and now I am,” Shaq once noted, according to an article in Marca. His business ventures and endorsements are as iconic as his athletic achievements, demonstrating his versatility and acumen in both arenas.
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This article NBA icon Shaquille O’Neal says an accidental babysitting gig led to his early investment in Google: “You’re good with kids. I like you.’ originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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