“Dreams of Being Rich”: Shaquille O’Neal ‘Duped His Grandfather’ to Pocket 40 Percent Profits Decades Before Building $400,000,000 Empire

Shaquille O’Neal is one of the biggest celebrity athletes on planet Earth. However, his journey to becoming a premier superstar wasn’t exactly easy. Shaq was a hustler growing up and worked hard to get to the position he is in today. In fact, he shared a story in his book Shaq Uncut, which is a perfect example of his impeccable business acumen. He narrated, how he would dupe his grandfather and pocket 40% of the money he was given to buy lottery tickets and bread to buy gum. All before his successful basketball career and establishment of his $400,000,000 empire off the court.

With his career earnings, numerous endorsements, and investments, Shaq has amassed quite a bit of wealth himself. Working with companies like Lyft, Vitaminwater, Papa John’s, Krispy Kreme, and more has allowed him to become one of the wealthiest men on planet Earth. A stark contrast to his humble beginnings.

Shaquille O’Neal used to hustle his grandfather in order to buy gum from the store

Growing up poor, Shaquille O’Neal always had a hustler’s mindset. He worked hard for everything he achieved and even worked smart wherever he could. This also extended to chores and errands he did for his family. The Big Aristotle took an opportunity presented to him by his grandfather to pocket some extra money.

Back in the day, as he describes in his book, his grandfather was obsessed with becoming rich. So, he would often send a young Shaq and his cousin Andre to the store to buy lottery tickets and bread for one dollar. However, Shaq and his cousin being the bright young children that they were always duped him.

While they did buy the lottery tickets, they made it a point to buy stale bread that cost 60 cents. They would then use the 40 cents they saved to buy gum. A smart hustle, but one that ended after the family realized the bread wasn’t fresh. A discovery that led to both O’Neal and his cousin getting beatings by their “crazy grandpa”.

“My grandpa had dreams of being rich, so every day he’d give me and my cousin Andre a dollar to go buy the Quick Pick lottery ticket and another dollar to buy bread. My cousin and I were entrepreneurs. We’d buy the Quick Pick, but then we’d buy the cheap, stale bread that cost sixty cents and use the other forty cents to buy gum. We did that a few times before someone in the house said, ‘How come this bread never tastes fresh?’ We got found out and got a whipping from my crazy grandpa.”

It’s been a long time since Shaq was a child hustling his grandfather for 40 cents. Now, he stands on top of the world with an empire of his own that he built with the help of his businessman’s mindset.

Shaq has numerous endorsements and investments that provide to his $400,000,000 net worth

As mentioned earlier, Shaquille O’Neal has managed to build a $400,000,000 empire for himself. With his performances on the court, he managed to earn $286,344,668. That coupled with his numerous endorsements and investments has made him incredibly wealthy.

Shaquille O’Neal follows one rule when investing:

” ‘ .”

And this has helped Shaq put together an incredible track record: pic.twitter.com/ziqgGfGSAt

— Andrew Petcash (@AndrewPetcash) June 25, 2023

With brands like Google, Apple, Lyft, Ring, Vitaminwater, and more in his investment portfolio, Shaq doesn’t need to worry about money anymore. Let alone pocketing 40% of a dollar to buy chewing gum.